Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

The (Proper) Test for the Grant of Humanitarian and Compassionate Relief under s.25(1) of the IRPA

What is the test for the grant of humanitarian and compassionate relief under section 25(1) of the IRPA? It was set out by the Supreme Court in Kanthasamy, at paragraph 21: ...to offer equitable relief in circumstances that "would excite in a reasonable [person] in a civilized community a desire to relieve the misfortunates of another": Chirwa, at p. 350. Justice Zinn, in a recent decision, commented on the fact that there are some Federal Court decisions that have phrased the test/question in a different way, "...in particular, decisions that require that an applicant's circumstances be compared to those of others..." (Zhang 2021 FC 1482) After commenting that it was "challenging" to discern the origin of this practice, Justice Zinn points to a representative statement by the Chief Justice: ...applicants for such relief must demonstrate the existence of misfortunes or other circumstances that are exceptional, relative to other applicants who apply for permanent residence from within Canada or abroad..." (Huang 2019 FC 265 at para 20). Justice Zinn notes that this statement appears to have been followed and relied upon by H&C officers. In his view (one that I must agree with) this "comparison requirement is not supported by Kanthasamy".... Read more →

Mandamus on a delay because of third party security clearance

IRCC sometimes tries to justify inordinate delay in processing based on the apparent fact that they are waiting on third party security clearances. Justice Harrington dealt with that excuse in Hamalipoor: [21] Furthermore it is not adequate to pass the buck and avoid responsibility by blaming delays on another government organization. An applicant's right to a decision is an obligation on the Government of Canada acting through the responsible minister. It is the Respondent's obligation to cause the necessary steps within government so that the rights under the statute are fulfilled. Read more →

Front line health care workers and the grant of special relief

The decision in Mohammed v. MCI 2022 FC 1 has already played a role in the granting of an appeal against a removal order by the IAD (coincidentally, by the same Board Member that initially denied relief to Ms. Mohammed). This was discussed in a recent Borderlines podcast (#69) and may be of assistance beyond those that worked in the front lines of the pandemic. This topic also came up during my chat with Conservative MP Jasraj Singh Hallan -the Official Critic for Immigration: Raj Sharma: There's so many. I think the most recent is my first-reported decision, and the first-reported federal court decision of the year. It involved someone that was working in long-term care who was providing end stage service and assistance, and she was short of the residency obligation. Because she was short on the residency obligation, they tried to remove her from Canada, and she had good reasons why she couldn't comply with the residency obligation. When we ran the appeal, they gave short shrift to her assistance in a long-term care facility. There was multiple COVID outbreaks, there was deaths in the facility. She's literally risking her life, and this is in the decision, risking... Read more →

Borderlines Podcast on COVID-19 as an H&C Factor, Mandamus and FSW vs. CEC Priorities, with Raj Sharma

Borderlines · #69 - COVID-19 as an H&C Factor, Mandamus and FSW vs. CEC Priorities, with Raj Sharma ... Steven Meurrens: Hello, and welcome to the Borderlines Podcast. The podcast for the discussion of Canadian immigration law and policy. I'm Steve Meurrens. This week, Deana Okun-Nachoff and I are joined by Raj Sharma an immigration lawyer in Calgary at Stewart Sharma Harsanyi. Raj previously appeared on episode 48 of this podcast, where he discussed responding to procedural fairness letters, and also episode three, where he discussed marriage fraud. And today Raj is on to discuss this case, Mohammed V Canada, citizenship and immigration, which is the first federal court decision of 2022. Steven Meurrens: There the federal court ruled that the immigration appeal division unreasonably minimized the extent to which working as a frontline healthcare worker during the COVID-19 pandemic should be a factor in the humanitarian and compassionate assessment. We also discuss processing times, mandamus applications, whether IRCC made a mistake in lumping federal skilled worker class and Canadian experience class applicants together in express entry and more. Raj can be found on Twitter @immlawyercanada. And if you enjoy today's episode and you like the show, please leave a... Read more →

How to Address Canada's Massive Immigration Backlog -Podcast with CPC MP Jasraj Hallan Immigration Critic

Transcript Jasraj S. Hallan: Hey everyone. Welcome to the second episode of All That Jas. I'm your host, Jasraj Singh Hallan, Member of Parliament from Calgary Forest Lawn. We are so honored today to have my good friend, and I would say world-renowned immigration lawyer, Raj Sharma, joining us today to talk immigration and a bunch of other things that I know a lot of people are going to be really excited to hear about. Raj is a very well known lawyer for many years, someone I could say I look up to. A little bit of a, I would say, role model as well; someone that is very dedicated and very passionate about helping people out. I'm not going to do an introduction for him because I'm going to leave that to him. Raj, thank you so much for being here today. Let us know, who is Raj? Raj Sharma: Jasraj, thanks so much for having me on. This is the first time I'm in your, in your lair, in the lion's den, so thanks for having me. In terms of background, just like you probably, my parents came over about 50 years ago, so we're second generation now,... Read more →