In a recent Borderlines episode, Garth Barriere, Eric Purtzki, Peter Edelmann and I discussed the constitutionality of laws that are retroactive or retrospective. This episode can be found here: A link to this episode’s synopsis can be found here. The following post provides a more detailed written summary of retroactive and retrospective legislation in the immigration context.
Borderlines Podcast #54 – Building the Law Career that You Want, with Dennis McCrea
Dennis McCrea was the founder of McCrea Immigration Law. He started practicing immigration law in 1974, and was one of the original members of Vancouver’s immigration bar. In this episode we discuss how to build an immigration practice, how the practice of immigration law has evolved, avoiding burnout and more. 3:00 – How lawyers use to interact with visa officers. 6:00 – The formation of the immigration bar. 11:30 – Thoughts on whether it is possible to have both a corporate immigration practice and a refugee or enforcement practice. 15:30– Did the practice of immigration law become more or less fun over time? 18:00 – What kept Dennis motivated when it came to practicing immigration law? 22:30 – What type of cases did Dennis enjoy the most? 26:00 – What are some tools that lawyers can use to prevent burnout? 41:00 – Did the practice of immigration law vary depending on which political party were in power? 42:00 – How to retire. 45:00 – How can junior lawyers who are trying to build a practice have time for hobbies? 48:00 – How Steven and Deanna got into immigration. 58:00 – Growing a firm. 1:03:00 – Should you article at an … Read More
Borderlines Podcast Episode 45 – Spousal Sponsorship Delays and Refusals, with Chantal Dube and Syed Farhan Ali
Syed Farhan Ali shares his Canadian immigration story. During the time that his spousal sponsorship application was in process he was denied temporary entry to Canada, missed the birth of his first child and missed her first steps. He recently arrived in Canada after a three year application process. Chantal Dube is a Spokesperson for Spousal Sponsorship Advocates, a group with more than 5,000 members in Canada that argues for reforms to the family reunification process. 3:15 Said tells the story of his spousal sponsorship application. His application took 34 months to process. During the processing of his application Canada denied his visitor visa applications. He missed the birth of his children and their first steps, although he was able to reunite with his wife during brief trips to the United States, which did grant him a visitor visa. 21:00 We discuss the refusal of temporary resident visas for people with spousal sponsorship applications in process, people with frequent travel histories, people with American multiple entry visas, and judicial reviews. 25:00 How long a judicial review takes. 29:50 Assessing genuineness in a spousal sponsorship application, and the distinction between “low risk and high risk” in the checklists. 33:00 The … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #25 – Protecting Foreign Workers and Employer Compliance Inspections, with Meera Thakrar
The Government of Canada, as well as several provincial governments, have introduced several measures to protect temporary foreign workers and maintain the integrity of Canada’s foreign worker programs. Meera Thakrar is a Canadian immigration lawyer whose practices focus on helping companies recruit and retain foreign workers. Meera joins Peter Edelmann, Deanna Okun-Nachoff and Steven Meurrens to discuss various measures that different levels of government have introduced to protect foreign workers, challenges do governments face in this task and how employer compliance inspections work. 2:15 – Deanna discusses vulnerabilities that caregivers face. These include nonpayment of wages, excessive hours and more. What aggravates the situation is that because caregivers typically seek permanent residency and reporting abuse could potentially jeapordize this. 4:30 – What are some of the motivations of caregiver employers who exploit their foreign workers? What are some possible solutions to reduce the vulnerability of caregivers? 10:20 – Do what extent does the caregiver program deflate Canadian wages? To what extent does the fact that foreign workers provide cheap labour, making goods and services affordable, create a disincentive to stricter enforcement of foreign worker rights. 12:20 – An overview of how the government’s enforcement of compliance in the Temporary Foreign … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #24 – The Temporary Foreign Worker Program, with Kyle Hyndman and Meera Thakrar
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program, also known as the Labour Market Impact Assessment, is the main program through which Canadian companies hire temporary foreign workers. We discuss numerous aspects of obtaining Labour Market Impact Assessments, including prevailing wage, recruitment, transition plans, processing times, job match, the Global Talent Stream and the Owner – Operator LMIA. Kyle Hyndman and Meera Thakrar are both Canadian immigration lawyers whose practices focus on helping companies recruit and retain foreign workers. 3:00 – What are the first questions or things that Kyle and Meera tell Canadian employers that want to apply for Labour Market Impact Assessments? 3:57 – What is the difference between the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the International Mobility Program? 8:00 – Why are companies generally reluctant to obtain Labour Market Impact Assessments? 8:20 – What are the recruitment requirements for a Labour Market Impact Assessment? 12:50 – What is Job Match? 19:00 – What do companies have to show and demonstrate through the recruitment process? 23:20 – What is the wage requirement for a LMIA? What is the prevailing wage? 25:00 – Do employers hire foreign workers to undercut Canadian wages? 26:30 – Can employers of foreign workers offer raises or … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #23 – Appellate Advocacy Tips, with Former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Marshall Rothstein
Marshall Rothstein served as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada from 2006 – 2015. He previously was a Judge on the Federal Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal. Garth Barriere is a criminal defence attorney in Vancouver. He was counsel in Khosa v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration, a major Supreme Court of Canada immigration decision in which Justice Rothstein wrote a concurring opinion. In this episode Justice Rothstein provides tips for written and oral advocacy. While the focus is on appellate litigation, anyone interesting in strengthening their advocacy skills will benefit from what he has to say. We also discuss the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Khosa v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), and its impact on administrative law in Canada. It is a frank conversation. 9:00 – What it was like for Justice Rothstein when he was appointed to the Federal Court of Canada and to adjudicate cases on which he had no previous experience? 12:30 – How was it different being on the Federal Court vs. the Federal Court of Appeal vs. the Supreme Court of Canada? 14:20 – What strategies or approaches would Justice Rothstein suggest for counsel appearing at … Read More
Borderlines Episode #13 – Problems with the Safe Third Country Agreement and Interdiction, With Efrat Arbel
Efrat Arbel is Assistant Professor at the Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. She is an executive member of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers. A list of Dr. Arbel’s recent publications can be found here. During this podcast we talk about three areas that Dr. Arbel has recently focused her research on. These include the distinction between physical borders and legal borders in the refugee context, how interdiction works, and the Safe Third Country Agreement. The Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States requires that persons seeking refugee protection must make a claim in the first country they arrive in unless they qualify for an exception to the Agreement. In other words, an asylum seeker who wishes to seek refugee status in Canada will typically be denied the ability to do so if they attempt to enter Canada by land from the United States. This episode was recorded before President Trump’s recent Executive Order imposed a moratorium on asylum claims in the United States. President Trump’s decision has only intensified and magnified many of the issues that Dr. Arbel discusses in this podcast. 1:43 – Dr. Arbel explains different concepts of what … Read More
Borderlines Episode #12 – Tips on making written and oral arguments in court, with Justice Alan Diner
The Honourable Alan S. Diner is a judge with the Federal Court of Canada. Prior to his appointment, Justice Diner headed Baker & McKenzie LLP’s immigration practice. He was also involved with managing the establishment and implementation of Ontario’s Provincial Nominee Program for the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. We are grateful to Justice Diner for the time that he took in preparing for this podcast about tips and best practices in appearing before the Federal Court of Canada, including in providing a customised powerpoint, which can be found on our website at http://www.borderlines.ca. As Justice Diner notes, many of the tips and strategies contained in this episode are applicable beyond judicial review, and will be beneficial to anyone preparing written submissions or making oral presentations. A review of what we discussed is as follows: 1:18 – Justice Diner describes his history going from being an immigrant in Canada to leading a corporate immigration law practice to becoming a judge with the Federal Court of Canada. 14:30 – We discuss how the practice of immigration law is changing as larger firms and global accounting firms enter the practice area. 18:30 – Justice Diner provides his first three tips to lawyers appearing … Read More
Borderlines Episode #11 – Tensions between political oversight and politicizing officer decisions, with Lorne Sossin
We discuss three topics. The first is the oversight of police, CBSA, and immigration officers in Canada. How do we ensure that there is political oversight and accountability without politicizing the day to day operations of individual officers? The second topic is a discussion of Charter rights and Charter values in the immigration context. Finally, we talk about whether it is OK that in Canada individual immigration officers can create an apply their own standards of the law. Lorne Sossin is the Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School. Prior to his appointment, he was a Professor with the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. Dean Sossin also serves on the Boards of the National Judicial Institute and the Law Commission of Ontario. He has also acted as Research Director for the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Task Force on the Independence of the Bar. A review of what we discussed is as follows: 00:00 – Introduction 00:51 – Steven Meurrens says what one of his favorite things about law school is. 01:14 – Overview of topics 02:55 – The role of federalism in police oversight. 06:30 – Is criminal law local or is it national? 09:09 – What … Read More
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