Deanna Okun-Nachoff, Erica Olmstead, Erin Roth, Kamaljit Kaur Lehal and Laura Best discuss compassion fatigue in the practice of refugee law and how they avoid burnout.
Inadmissible Family Members
Section 42(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act provides: Inadmissible family member 42 (1) A foreign national, other than a protected person, is inadmissible on grounds of an inadmissible family member if (a) their accompanying family member or, in prescribed circumstances, their non-accompanying family member is inadmissible; or (b) they are an accompanying family member of an inadmissible person. Jurisprudence In Kolawole v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2023 FC 1384, an individual’s permanent residence application was refused because her husband was inadmissible to Canada for misrepresentation. Madam Justice Sadrehashemi was concerned that the misrepresentation finding was unreasonable. She accordingly set aside the refusal of the inadmissible family member, and ordered that IRCC provide the principal applicant with the opportunity to re-open the file.
Inadmissibility Due to Sanctions
On June 22, 2023, Bill S-8 received Royal Assent. The amendments: reorganize existing inadmissibility provisions relating to sanctions to establish a distinct ground of inadmissibility based on sanctions; expand the scope of inadmissibility based on sanctions to include not only sanctions imposed on a country but also those imposed on an entity or a person; expand the scope of inadmissibility based on sanctions to include all orders and regulations made under section 4 of the Special Economic Measures Act; and amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations to, among other things, provide that the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, instead of the Immigration Division, will have the authority to issue a removal order on grounds of inadmissibility based on sanctions. Legislation There Immigration and Refugee Protection Act contains several provisions pertaining to inadmissibility and sanctions. Section 4(2)(c) of the IRPA states: 4(2) The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness is responsible for the administration of this Act as it relates to: (c) the establishment of policies respecting the enforcement of this Act and inadmissibility on grounds of security, violating human or international rights, sanctions or organized criminality. Section 35.1(1) of the IRPA states: 35.1 (1) A foreign national is inadmissible … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #66 – R v. Khill and the Law of Self Defense in Canada, with Sarah Runyon
A discussion of the law of self defense in Canada, including the 2021 Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Khill. We also make comparisons to the Kyle Rittenhouse case in the United States and discuss Canadian immigration implications involving the law of self defense in criminal matters. Section 34 of the Criminal Code sets out a defence of self-defence. It states that a person is not guilty of an offence in certain defined circumstances where (a) they reasonably believe that force or a threat of force is being used or made against them or another person; (b) they act for the purpose of defending or protecting themselves or the other person; and (c) the act is reasonable in the circumstances. Several Federal Court of Canada decisions have reiterated that in determining equivalency visa officers have to determine whether the defence of self-defence arises, including Zeine v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2023 FC 1370.
The Student Direct Stream (SDS)
On May 2, 2019 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) unveiled the Student Direct Stream (the “SDS”), an expedited study permit processing program initially available to legal residents of India, China, Philippines and Vietnam. Eligibility Before May 2023 To be eligible for the SDS, an applicant must: be a legal resident of India, China, Philippines and Vietnam; provide proof of a valid language test result, completed within 2 years of the date of the SDS application, showing an IELTS score of 6.0 or higher in each language skill, or a TEF score that is equivalent to Canadian Language Benchmark 7; provide proof of a Guaranteed Investment Certificate “GIC” of CAN $10,000.00 or more issued from any bank that is insured by the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation (“CDIC”) or any bank listed on the IRCC SDS webpage; provide proof of full payment of tuition for their first year of study; provide a letter of acceptance to a Designated Learning Institute (a “DLI”); complete an upfront medical exam. The GIC must meet the following criteria: when the GIC has been purchased, the bank provides a letter of attestation, the GIC certificate, the Investment Directions Confirmation or the Investment Balance Confirmation to the … Read More
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party
According to the CBSA, between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 Bangladesh became the top source country for individuals found inadmissible to Canada under IRPA s. 34. The issue involves membership in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (the “BNP“) or its main political ally, the Jamaat-e-Islami (“Jamaat“). While not designated by Public Safety Canada as terrorist entities, some members of the BNP and Jamaat, through, have, according to CBSA, shown that they qualify as being a member of an organisation that there are reasonable grounds to believe engages, has engaged in or will engage in acts or instigate the subversion by force of a government or terrorism. The BNP According to Wikipedia, the BNP is one of the contemporary political parties of Bangladesh. It was founded on 1 September 1978 by former Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman after the Presidential election of 1978, with a view to uniting the people with nationalist ideology of the country. The party holds the ideology of Bangladeshi nationalism as its core concept and adopted a 19-point program which declared that “The sovereignty and independence of Bangladesh, golden fruits of the historic liberation struggle, is our sacred trust and inviolable right”. The founding manifesto of the … Read More
The IRCC Call Center
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC“) has a call-center to provide customer service. The information is here: Telephone: 1-888-242-2100 (in Canada only) Automated telephone service (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) If you have a touch-tone telephone, you can listen to pre-recorded information about our programs, and check the status of your application. Client Support Centre agents – Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., your local time, except for statutory holidays. Services are available in French and English. Agents can help you with general and case specific enquiries. They cannot: make decisions on applications help process applications faster, unless you meet the criteria for urgent processing Relying on the Call Center In Ni v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2014 FC 725, the IRCC call-center instructed an applicant to provide a certain document, and made a representation that this would result in the approval of the application. The applicant did just that, and the application was refused. Justice Brown wrote: … the failure of justice in this case arises solely from the Applicant following CIC’s instructions. Therefore, as between these two parties, responsibility must fall on the party who directed the erroneous course of conduct, which is in this case is CIC … Read More
Study Permits for Indian Nationals
The following is the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) study permit manual used at CPC-Ottawa for the processing of applications from Indian citizens.
Family Violence and H&Cs
The following PDF contains several statistics regarding TRP and H&C approval rates for applications involving family violence.
Borderlines Podcast #86 – Refugee Resettlement and the Housing Crisis, with Laura Best
Laura Best is an immigration lawyer practicing in Toronto. We discuss refugee resettlement and Canada’s housing crisis, as well as whether Canada’s housing shortage is impacting support for immigration.