Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Presentation at Criminal Trial Lawyers Association

Bjorn and I just returned from giving a presentation at the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association "Short Snapper" seminar in Edmonton. Our presentation was on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. The keynote speaker was Brian Greenspan, a well known Canadian criminal defense lawyer. Read more →

Nguyen-Tran v. Citizenship and Immigration Canada

The Federal Court of Canada has dismissed our application for judicial review with respect to the decision of the Immigration Appeal Division. The decision can be found at the Federal Court web site (link here).I believe that the case has a lot to do with the particular (and unusual) facts before the Court (at paragraph 30): On the facts of this case (acknowledged by the IAD to be “unusual circumstances for all but the rarest of cases”), both of these factors are relevant. Given the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Khosa, it is clear that the Federal Court will continue to grant wide deference to decisions of the Immigration Appeal Division. Read more →

Federal Court

I was at the Federal Court earlier this week dealing with a review of a decision by the Immigration Appeal Division. The case has some notoriety in Calgary but boiled down to the reasonableness of the IAD in 'importing' the objective of a seemingly unrelated enforcement section of the IRPA to a removal order dealing with criminality. The IAD had to have regard to the so called Ribic factors, which include seriousness of the offence, possibility of rehabilitation, community and family support, best interests of a child and hardship upon removal. Madame Justice Snider was presiding. She wrote the trial division decision of Medovarski - the IAD cited the SCC decision of Medovarski - and thus had particular insight into this decision. Counsel for the Department of Justice was Brad Hardstaff, who is senior counsel. I was gratified when the Court commended our written and oral argument. Reasons were reserved. I'm looking forward to reviewing the decision in due course. Read more →

Sponsorship appeal

I was at the IRB this morning to finish a spousal sponsorship appeal. Ministers Counsel was Ms Catherine King who is adept at cross examination and, given her posting at CHC Delhi, understands the cultural considerations at play for a sponsorship from India. While the presiding Member, Ms Maryanne Kingma, had reservations about some of the aspects of the case, she rendered an insightful (and positive) oral decision which took into account the legal burdens at play and the operation of section 4 of the Regulations. The experience this morning is an example of a proper administrative proceeding which should be granted considerable deference by a reviewing court. The decision maker was efficient, fair, was knowledgeable about the relevant statute and jurisprudence, and was cognizant of the evidence before her. Read more →

Immigration 2010

2009 has been an interesting year. From issues as diverse as the Dziekanski inquiry, marriage fraud, visa controls on Mexico and the Czech Republic, to the Tamil migrant ship, immigration has been at the forefront of the public discourse. I believe that it will continue to dominate the news in the new year. With the more aggressive stance of this current Immigration Minister, 2010 promises more changes. Jason Kenney has consistently promised reforms, and these seem likely once Parliament is back in session, after the Vancouver Olympics. One safe bet is significant refugee reform. This is a topic that appeals to the Conservative base, and the public at large, and is therefore not an issue the other parties will seek to topple the minority government over. What form these reforms will take is yet unknown, but bank on a higher refusal rate of refugee claimants by the politically appointed members of the Immigration and Refugee Board, Refugee Protection Division. The emphasis on enforcement, including removals, will continue and I believe we will see more charges under both the IRPA and the Criminal Code for immigration related offences. Finally, I believe that that 2010 will see increasing rate of refusals from... Read more →