Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

The Alternative Dispute Resolution Process -Residency Obligation Appeal

Summary: The author attended an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) meeting to determine if a negative residency determination for their client, a septuagenarian, could be overturned without a full hearing. The ADR process is driven by a Minister's counsel, with a Dispute Resolution Officer serving as a facilitator. The MC asks the bulk of the questions and will consider factors such as non-compliance with the residency obligation, ties to Canada, hardship if relief is not granted, and the Best Interests of Children. In this particular case, the MC was experienced and found that the appeal would likely be granted if it proceeded to a full hearing, but after considering credible and corroborative documents and a short discussion with the client's family member, the MC gave his consent and the client was able to avoid a full hearing. I've discussed the ADR process in the past. Last week I attended at an ADR. The purpose of the meeting was to see whether a negative residency determination could be determined in my client's favour without need for a full hearing. My client, a septuagenarian, was unable to comply with the residency obligation set out in s.28 of the IRPA -essentially -other than a... Read more →

What's Old is New Again -the 30th Anniversary of the Immigration and Refugee Board

Summary: The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada has been in operation for over 30 years, since its creation in 1989 as a result of Bill C-55. Despite changes in legislation and procedure over the years, many of the challenges faced by the IRB remain the same. There is a large backlog of cases, with over 71,000 cases currently pending. The modern era of immigration and refugee adjudication has seen some improvements, such as the implementation of remote hearings, computerized systems and training programs, but it is still hampered by administrative issues such as a lack of coordination between different government agencies and a high rate of postponed hearings. There are a number of silver linings including the fact that the Board is no longer "larded" with political appointees. It’s a cold and snowy Monday night on January 2, 1989; the Immigration and Refugee Board has been in operation for one business day; Brian Mulroney is Prime Minister ; there are ten centimeters of snow on the ground in Ottawa; the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement came into effect on the same day as the Board; and David Matas is about to publish a book titled “Closing the Doors:... Read more →