Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Age Discrimination in Law

The Punjab and Haryana bar councils are contemplating a provision to prevent anyone over the age of 45 from entering the legal profession. Here's a blog overviewing the proposal as well as the reaction: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2005/11/17#a5311 From what I've seen of the situation in north India, this may be a measure to limit the number of 'advocates'. The Indian court system is remarkably byzantine, with civil disputes (usually property disputes) taking 7-11 years to resolve. Much like Canada, reforms are vitally necessary. Here's a couple of pics I took when I visited the High Courts in Ludhiana Punjab in 2005. In this pic, the Judge is behind the mass of people standing. From what I saw, various people were thrusting pieces of paper in front of the judge who (seemingly without reading) was signing them. The security guard didn't seem to have a problem with me taking the snap: In this pic we have a shot of the 'prisoner's dock'. This unfortunate claimed to innocent, a doctor and falsely accused of murder. He seemed like a nice guy and mistook me for a reporter. This pic is a s nap of their 'Archive Room' and demonstrates the court's "Knowledge Management System".... Read more →

A Decade of Distinction

I just attended the 2006 Immigrants of distinction Awards Ceremony held at the Westin on April 20 2006. Our gracious host was Mr. Sherali Saju, one of the Board of Directors for the Calgary Stampede. Also in attendance was His Honour the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta - Norman Wong, the Solicitor General and Monte Solberg - the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. To the audience's applause, Solberg reiterated the governments commitment to halving the Right of Permanent Residence Fee. The Calgary Immigrant Aid Society presented awards to 'Immigrants of distinction'. Among the youth recipients was Alexsandar Dzhorkov, who had an interesting and lengthy speech on 'self-fulfillment' and was actually 'hooked' off the stage by Peter Wong, Chair, prior to his speech's 'denouement'. Here's a picture of my wife Meena with Pat Stopa, one of the partners at Caron & Partners LLP, a firm which I will be joining mid-May 2006. One of the dual recipients of the Distinguished Professional Award was Sinisa Sonny Tomic. Sonny gave a very moving speech of his journey of 266 months that led to him to leave war torn Yugoslavia, and being on the stage this evening. I also bumped into Mr. Moeez Moledina, a... Read more →

Portuguese Protests Hit Calgary

A small (but dedicated) number of protesters gathered in downtown Calgary to speak against the Portuguese deportations out east. Michael Simoes, is pictured here holding a placard. Read more →

US refugees

The lawyer for Hinzman and Hughey - 2 US Army deserters who sought asylum in Canada - has indicated that they will be 'appealing' the decision of the IRB (refusing their claims) to the Federal Court. An appeal to the Federal Court in this case is not an appeal in the traditional sense. Even if successful, the Federal Court cannot substitute a different decision - it can only refer the matter back to the IRB for a redetermination before a differently constituted panel. Read more →