Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Lessons Learned As An Immigration Officer

After I completed my articles at the Federal Department of Justice, I applied for and obtained a position as a Refugee Protection Officer at the Immigration and Refugee Board in 2002. After working there for almost 2 years, I left in 2004. During that time, and the nine years subsequent as an immigration lawyer, I learned a lot about how immigration works. Here's what I learned in that time: 1. The Government (and here I mean Citizenship and Immigration or Canada Border Services Agency) is not in the customer service business. Sure, there's been some efforts, and now there is a veneer of customer service. There's an online portal. There's a call centre. But it's near impossible to speak to someone who is directly handling your file. Local walk-in service has been discontinued. CPC Vegreville and CPC Mississauga are like black holes. You send your application in and hope for the best. Overseas visa offices are similarly full of obstacles. Examples abound. Frustration and delay seem to be by-words when you are dealing with either department. CIC or CBSA officials saw Robert Dziekanski wandering around the airport for hours, but no-one bothered to ask if he needed some guidance in... Read more →

Blog Posting - 5 Things to Know About the Refugee Appeal Division

Due to changes made law under the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) has come into force. The RAD is an appellate administrative body whose mandate is to errors made by the Refugee Protection Division as first stage decision makers assessing claims for protection. The newness of the RAD demands comment and explanation. Here are five things to understand about this new body: (1) The RAD process is unavailable to refused claimants from "designated countries". Most of these countries are Western European countries with relatively benign human rights records and competent authorities. However, several countries from central and Eastern Europe have unenviable records with respect to treatment of minority sexual groups and the Roma, but have still been included on the list, likely for political purposes. Also, and controversially, Mexico is included on this list despite the well publicized fact that the Mexican state and economy are inextricably linked to narco-traffickers and criminal gangs. The complete list is provided here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/reform-safe.asp (2) When making an appeal to the RAD, an appellant is not necessarily limited to submitting evidence used to decide the original claim. If an appellant has evidence, which was reasonably unavailable to them at the... Read more →

Blog Posting - LMO Requirements in Alberta - Truck Drivers & Underrepresented Groups

Employers in Alberta should be aware that Service Canada has internal policy requirements for truck drivers (NOC 7411) that set a prevailing wage much higher than that listed on the workingincanada.gc.ca website. Although the median wage for this website states a wage of $22.00 per hour for this position (in Calgary) and despite the fact that Service Canada's own website indicates the median wage from the other site should be the minimum wage advertised for the position, Service Canada in Alberta has taken the position that $22.00 per hour (in Calgary) is not the prevailing wage. The wage set by Service Canada in Alberta is $25.79. There has been no explanation for this change from published and accepted policy. We also understand there has been extensive internal debate regarding the requirement that employers attempt to recruit from underrepresented groups. This requirement has left employers befuddled with respect to their advertisement and recruitment practices. On a go forward basis, we are advising all of our employers to indicate, in their advertising, that they do not discriminate against minority groups and that minority and aboriginal candidates are welcome and encouraged to apply for the relevant position. The changing landscape of LMOs should... Read more →