Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Toronto Star article on overseas refugee decisions

Quality of refugee decisions in question Toronto Star Published On Tue Jun 21 2011 Nicholas Keung Immigration Reporter Canadian visa officers do not always refer to the law when accepting or rejecting refugees awaiting resettlement to Canada, a federal report says. In fact, more than a third of cases were refused simply because the visa officer did not believe the refugee’s story. No analysis appeared to be made using set criteria that determines refugee status, says the internal report prepared by Citizenship and Immigration Canada staff. “The record did not always clearly indicate how an application either met or failed to meet the regulatory criteria,” said the 94-page study. Refugee advocates have complained about poor decision-making by visa officers overseas and lack of accountability in the determination process. In May, they won a court case overturning decisions made by one visa officer at the Cairo mission rejecting 40 Eritrean refugees. “We have always said that the problems in Cairo are not particular to that visa office. This report confirms that,” said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees. The federal court ruling in the Eritreans’ cases and this internal report underline the need for a fairer system,... Read more →

The Foolish Fraser Institute

I have come across the recent Fraser report which was picked up in the National Post. The Fraser report is 62 pages long and concludes that immigrants cost us $23 billon a year. Their solution: Canadian women should have more babies and maybe if we don't let any garbage collectors into the country, we will come up with market solutions and technological advances to replace all low skilled positions. They also have policy recommendations which seem to highlight their lack of knowledge about our current immigration system involving TFWs. I find it hard to contain myself at reading the so called miscellaneous other benefits of immigration section at page 20 and particularly this paragraph: Another benefit from immigration often mentioned is that it enriches the cultural life of Canadians. The value of this feel-good benefit also is impossible to measure but it is legitimate to note that Canadians already enjoy an abundance of ethnic restaurants and festivals and that further increases are likely to bring relatively smaller additional benefits. It is shocking that there is no understanding of matters "Beyond the Bottom Line" or an idea of how to look at the greater socio-political, human rights, and Charter issues at... Read more →