Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Top Canadian Immigration News Stories for 2007

In the spirit of the end of years' ubiquitous top ten lists, I present my own (in no particular order) take on the top immigration stories for 2007: The Death of Robert Dziekanski. Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant, who the RCMP tasered within 25 seconds of their arrival. Tragically, Dziekansi never set foot alive outside the Vancouver International Airport. The (non) deportation matters of: Laibar Singh, a paralyzed Sikh and failed refugee claimant. Singhs' supporters staged a massive protest at the Vancouver International Airport, yet again preventing his removal from Canada; Karlheinz Schreiber. The wily Schreiber has managed to delay his deportation to Germany to face serious criminal charges by a flurry of conflicting affidavits, law suits and a unusual appearance before Parliament. What remains to be seen is how much longer Schreiber can delay the seemingly inevitable; Sukhvir Singh Khosa. Khosa and Bahadur Singh Bhalru were street racing when Khosa's vehicle struck and killed Irene Thorpe, and innocent pedestrian on Marine Drive in Vancouver. Both were convicted and Bhalru was eventually removed from Canada. Khosa continues to fight his removal and his appeal will now be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada; Samuel Martin Luin, who entered Canada in... Read more →

Bias in the Canadian Consulate in India?

Apparent comments by Brian Hudson, chief visa officer in India have upset a delegation of Canadian college and university leaders who visited India this month (Globe and Mail article): "[Mr. Hudson] said he did not understand why the heck we were recruiting in the Punjab; the state of the Punjab has the highest crime and forgery rate anywhere; the highest human-trafficking statistics in the world, and that we should be recruiting in South India," Mr. Oppal alleged. Immigration practitioners have long known of the difficulties in securing approvals for (Indian, particularly Punjabi) applicants. Hmmm...I wonder if the alleged comments/complaint can be utilized in arguing institutional bias in any relevant Applications for Leave before the Federal Court... Read more →

Aqsa Parvez

A number of comments and conclusions have been drawn as a result of Aqsa Parvez' murder. Suffice to say, the vast majority condemning Muslims in general, and extending to discussions regarding the Muslim immigrant population and restricting immigration of Muslims to Canada. Just read this article in The Star, and find that it encapsulates my thoughts exactly. Read more →

Updated: The Deportation of Laibar Singh

Laibar Singh's sojourn in Canada has taken another twist. The Vancouver Sun reports that Singh's supporters may be backing off on their public pledges to support and care for him as long as he remains in Canada. Singh's case can be juxtaposed with Piotr Mazur - Mazur was holidaying in Canada with his family when he got into a car accident and was partially paralyzed. Mazur was eventually granted permanent resident status after the then minister of CIC intervened in his case. It would be a legitimate question to ask if there is a double standard. However, as an immigration lawyer, I've come across numerous cases with similar facts but resulting in wildly disparate outcomes. The inconsistency of our immigration system is an unfortunate fact. Singh had been ordered deported from Canada - despite years of efforts to regularize his status. He orginally arrived on a fake passport from India and claimed refugee status, which was refused by the IRB. Singh later suffered an aneurysm and is now paralyzed, requiring care. While he has won two stays of his planned deportation, Singh's tenure in Canada appears to be coming to an end. Singh had earlier claimed sanctuary in a Sikh... Read more →

Updated: Air India and the Importation of Conflict

Canadian immigration policy has to recognize that new immigrants often carry with them the hatreds, prejudices and conflicts plaguing their country of origin. It must then seek to identify those likely to continue to adhere to such belief systems and likely to act on them in Canada. Despite the current identification of Islamists as fifth columnists, we only need to look at recent history in Canada to realize that they hold no monopoly on such internal threats -- more than 20 years ago, Sikh fundamentalists used terror to establish their homeland, Khalistan, in India. Canada -- then and now a major destination country for Sikhs -- became a theatre for that conflict when Sikh fundamentalists placed a bomb on an Air India flight, killing 329 (mostly Canadians) and were likely behind the murder of Tara Singh Hayer, a prominent Indo-Canadian editor in Surrey, B.C., who spoke out against violence in the Sikh separatist movement. The Air India inquiry continues and now confirms that there was advance knowledge of the threat -- revealing a massive failure on the part of Canada's security apparatus to act on that knowledge to prevent the deaths of those innocents. In addition to Ontario Lt.-Gov. James... Read more →

Safe Third Country (STC) Agreement Dealt Serious Blow

The concerns of refugee advocates, the refugee Bar and other stakeholders over the Safe Third Country Agreement appear to be shared and voiced by the Federal Court. As an example of the differences in refugee policy between the US and Canada, consider that Colombian refugees have a less than 50% acceptance rate in the US vs. over 80% acceptance rate in Canada. Mr. Justice Phelan of the Federal Court has found that the STC (agreed to by Canada and the US and responsible for a major drop in refugee claims in Canada) violates refugee rights and is contrary to the Charter of Rights. Edward Corrigan writes in the The Canadian National Newspaper: The Judge stated, "I would therefore conclude that the designation of the U.S. as a safe third country leads to a discriminatory result, in that it has a much more severe impact on persons who fall into the areas where the U.S. is not compliant with the Refugee Convention or CAT (Convention Against Torture), as well as discriminating and exposing such people to risk based solely on the method of arrival in Canada." "For the reasons outlined in this judgment, the United States' policies and practices do not... Read more →