Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Alan Kurdi's Family Will be Coming to Canada

Alan Kurdi's family will be coming to Canada. During Election 42 disturbing news came to light in the wake of Alan's lifeless body washing up on a Turkish shore. It emerged that Alan's aunt had applied for but was encountering roadblocks in bringing Alan's uncle's family to Canada. Chris Alexander, the then Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, claimed that his hands were tied; that he couldn't intervene and that the lack of a UNHCR document was fatal to the application. We learned later that this was, at best a half-truth, and more likely, complete obfuscation. The Prime Minister's Office had intervened months prior, and for political reasons in UNHCR referred refugee files. Alexander's statements, and the PMO actions is a circle that cannot be squared. I wrote about the political chicanery involving the most vulnerable in October. Thinking the path to Canada was foreclosed, it appears that Alan's father made the fateful decision to try to reach Greece via boat. It resulted in the tragic loss of his wife and two young boys. Those deaths likely contributed to opening Canada's door for thousands of others. This fact appears to be of some solace to Alan's father. Read more →

Blog Posting - "Status Checks" in the GTA

In interesting non Syrian refugee related news, a recent report has indicated that Toronto police often contact the Canada Border Services Agency for a "status check" on individuals they have detained or are questioning: http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2015/11/24/toronto-police-urged-to-stop-immigration-status-checks.html This practice is interesting on several levels. As indicated in the article, it would be interesting to note the racial or ethnic origins of the individuals having their status checked. It would not surprise anyone if most of the individuals having their status checked are visible minorities. Constitutional questions also are engaged by this practice. For instance anyone being investigated must, at some point in the process, be advised of what they are being investigated for. Are Toronto police advising these individuals that in addition to whatever criminal matter they are being questioned about that they are also having their immigration status looked into? Is this even within the remit of the police? If not, should it be and be legislated as such? Important legal and societal questions that beg explanation and clarification from the police and well as discussion and contemplation by the rest of us. Given the bright spotlight being placed on newcomers as security risks it is incumbent on the government to... Read more →

Judicial Review of a Law Society Decision

I will be appearing before the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta with respect to a decision by the Credentials and Education Committee of the Law Society of Alberta refusing the appeal under Rule 50.2 of the Rules of the Law Society and Section 37(4) of the Legal Profession Act (LPA). In essence, my client, a current member of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), graduated with a common law degree from a University in the UK. To practise law in Canada, an applicant requires to establish that he or she either has a Canadian (common) law degree, or equivalent. Equivalency is determined by the National Committee on Accreditation (the NCA). The NCA's policy on distance learning results in a requirement of 8 upper year law school courses and 6 examinations. Unfortunately the 8 upper year courses are not available in this province. An applicant can appeal an evaluation by the NCA (having exhausted the internal NCA appeal process) to the CEC under s.50.2(4) of the Rules. There is no appeal against the number of examinations required by the NCA. That means that an appeal does lie against the number of courses required. An applicant can also appeal... Read more →

Can the Liberals Keep their Word on Syrian Refugees?

25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015. It is a bold promise. The Harper GovernmentTM stingy, niggardly approach to the greatest refugee and humanitarian crisis reared its head during the interminable election (an early "October surprise", and one of a few). Apparently part of the reason for the extra-long election was to pounce on Mr. Trudeau making a gaffe or two or three. Instead, it was the CPC that made unforced errors. Chris Alexander's response to an innocuous question by Rosemary Barton was, at the time a "near-catastrophic negative" and, with the benefit of hindsight, we can remove the qualifier. I discussed the changes that the CPC made to privately sponsored refugees and Mr. Alexander's performance to date on the Roy Green show. Transcript: Speaker 1: Engaging, entertaining, and informative, this is the Roy Green Show across Canada on the Corus Radio Network. Today's guest host, Jeff Courier. Jeff: To carry on our conversation about what has become an international humanitarian crisis, and that is of course the refugee crisis I'm talking about in Europe right now. Interestingly enough, we're referring to this as a refugee crisis in Europe when, in fact, it is a global crisis of sorts.... Read more →

Blog Posting - The Man in the Middle: John McCallum - the new Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Apologies in advance for the misleading title! The biographic details for Mr. McCallum are readily available. In short, he is a very well experienced economist who has held high positions in both academia and the business world. He is also an experienced politician having been a Member of Parliament for many years and also holding cabinet experience with previous Liberal governments in other portfolios. Prior to his appointment, he served as the main opposition Liberal critic on the Conservative government's immigration policy. In terms of what we can expect from him in the short term, based on government announcements and interviews we would expect he will play an active role in helping the resettlement of 25,000 Syrian refugees in Canada. He is also on record as indicating the government would not pursue its appeal of the Federal Court decision restoring healthcare coverage to refugee claimants, regardless of the status of their claims or the country they claimed against. In the long term, his positions are less well articulated. What can we expect? As mentioned previously, Liberal platforms and campaign promises regarding immigration policy, in addition to the above, have been that: -They would double the quota for selection for parents... Read more →

Undoing the Harper Decade on Immigration

It's been almost a decade of changes in immigration policy. Many of the changes in immigration have been ideological. As I said for theharperdecade.com: The legacy of the Harper decade with respect to immigration law and policy will be characterized by the denigration of Canada's humanitarian tradition, confrontation with the Courts, dog whistle politics, and the ascendency of bottom-line driven immigration policy. Part of the task of this new government is to appoint a capable Minister that understands the nature and extent of the changes made in the last ten years, and which changes and policies to retain and which ones to dispense with. For Kenney, no crisis – real or created – was wasted as an opportunity to place the stamp of the Conservative brand on immigration. Indeed, there is no aspect of immigration policy that has gone untouched. In no particular order, these are my predictions as to what a new Liberal government will tackle in this file. 1. Bill C-24, Strengthening Canadian ... never mind completing the oxymoronic title. This Act wasn't going to survive court challenge (for its problematic take on citizenship revocation) and those self-same aspects won't survive the next few months. The leadership is... Read more →

Alternative Dispute Resolution Meetings at the Immigration Appeal Division

The Immigration Appeal Division can hear the appeal of a permanent resident who is the subject of a removal order (for misrepresentation, criminality*, and breach of the residency obligation). If you have sponsored your spouse, common-law or conjugal partner and a visa officer has come to the conclusion that the marriage is not valid or not genuine (or both) then you can appeal that determination to the IAD as well. As an aside, it's not that easy to determine a "marriage-like" relationship. Even our courts are struggling with it. Yet our visa officers abroad seem to have no issue in determining the genuineness of a relationship after a quick interview. Other appeals include adoptions, medical inadmissibility (for sponsored family members). I hope I'm not missing anything. If I am, please let me know. The reality is that demand on our legal resources will always exceed capacity and resources. It's taking over 18 months in the Western Region to get in front of the Immigration Appeal Division (and apparently longer than that out east). If your spousal sponsorship has been refused and depending on the processing time of the responsible visa office combined with the backlog at the IAD, it could... Read more →