Borderlines

Raj Sharma is an immigration lawyer in Calgary. He can be found on Twitter at @immlawyercanadaTopics:1:30 - Addressing divergent case law15:30 - Globe and Mail story about waiving TRV eligibility requirements to clear backlogs23:00 - Chat GTP replacing lawyers and visa officers31:00 - Processing delays36:00 - Mandamus42:00 - Open work permits for spouses of Canadians56:00 - C-10 work permits and Express Entry57:00 - A world in which GCMS notes are provided instead of refusal letters1:00 - Is the practice of immigration law getting less fun? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tamara Mosher Kuczer is the Founder & Principal Lawyer of Lighthouse Immigration Law Professional Corporation. She can be found on Twitter @ttrrmk.5:00How would you summarize 2022 for Canadian immigration? 13:23Favorite development in Canadian immigration law25:00Least favorite development in Canadian immigration39:15Favorite Federal Court decision52:00What should people watch the most in 202356:00What might happen this year that people might not be expecting? 1:04What will happen with the Self-Employed Class and Start-Up Visa Program? 1:09Will Express Entry take under 6 months again and will there be a draw in the Parent & Grandparent Program? 1:12Predictions for citizenship and abolishing PR Cards. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Secure Air Travel Act provides the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness with authority to establish a list of individuals that the Minister has reasonable grounds to suspect could be a threat to aviation or national security or intends to travel by air for the purpose of terrorism. Sadaf Kashfi, works for Edelmann & Co. She advises clients on complex issues concerning U.S. and Canadian immigration, criminal law, and during the COVID-19 pandemic developed a successful practice representing individuals accused of quarantine act violations. Her e-mail is sadaf@edelmann.ca The second, Eric Purtzi, is Associate Counsel at Fowler & Block, a criminal defense law firm. He has appeared at the Supreme Court of Canada 7 times. He is also a past guest on Borderlines, having appeared on episode 9 to discuss the constitutionality of retrospective laws. His e-mail is epurtzki@fowlerbloklaw.caHow does the Secure Air Travel Act work?Who reviews naming on the Secure Air Travel Act?What is the thres

Prasanna Balasundaram is the Director of Downtown Legal Services. He represented the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers as interveners in the Supreme Court of Canada case Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz, which dealt with when delays can amount to an abuse of process.2:00 Why did CARL intervene in this case? 6:00Recalibrating abuse of process.10:00Possible remedies for abuse of process. 17:00What is an abuse of process claim?20:00What is the Blencoe test? 25:00Is a remedy under an abuse of process claim cash? 28:00How can lawyers, stakeholders, and CARL collaborate on systemic issues? 31:00Why does __ think that the Supreme Court did not address CARL’s argument about removal in the decision?39:00How does one choose test litigation cases? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pantea Jafari is lead counsel at Jafari Law, which she opened in 2012. In 2022 Pantea won a successful group litigation for over 100 Iranian applicants whose applications were refused under the Self-Employed Class. Pantea successfully argued that the Canadian government unfarily changed the standards for these applicants after they had applied. We discuss the Self-Employed Class, the doctrine of legitimate expectations, breaches of procedural fairness, changing visa offices and how group litigation works. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three former counsel at the Department of Justice discuss what practicing at the DOJ is like vs. private practice. Jennifer Dagsvik worked as Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice from 2007 – 2017, and now is a Lecturer at Immigration and Refugee Law at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law in Thunder Bay, and also a Director at the Newcomer Legal Clinic there. Nalini Reddy worked as a Lawyer at the Department of Justice from 1999 to 2017. She is currently an Associate at Gindin Segal Law in Winnipeg. Rafeena Rashid worked as a Lawyer at the Department of Justice in the Immigration Division from 2010 to 2016. She is a Partner and Co-founder of Rashid Urosevic LLP, where she practices immigration law full-time.- Why they joined and eventually left DOJ- What they liked most about DOJ and what they liked less- The DOJ interview process- When a DOJ lawyer's personal opinion about a case is different from their client’s. - Things it would be helpful for private practice to know about DOJ. - Things it would be helpf

Peter Scarrow practiced Canadian immigration law from 1981 - 1991, opening the Taiwanese representative office for a prominent Vancouver law firm. We discuss what practicing high net worth immigration from Taiwan and China was like in the 1980s and early 1990s, ghost consultant fraud, tax avoidance, and being a private banker vs. immigration lawyer (Peter did both). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Thomas practiced immigration law from 1987 - 2014, when he was appointed Chairperson of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. During his career he developed a large investor clientele from South Korea, ran to be a Member of Parliament, and started a charity that delivered vitamins to North Korea. 3:00 - The start of Dave’s career practicing immigration law both at a large firm and then starting his own firm. 6:00 - Practicing immigration law in the 1990s.13:00 - Do immigration lawyers travel less than they do now, reduced communication with IRCC and other changes in the practice. 18:00 - Things learned about the bureaucracy as the head of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal32:00 - Running for federal office36:00 - Would David recommend immigration law? Is it becoming less fun? 44:00 - Starting a charity that delivered vitamins to North Korea. 51:00 - Comparing practicing immigration to the human rights tribunal. 1:02 - What the future holds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A discussion of misrepresentation, including its application, consequences, the innocent mistake defense, failing to disclose past visa refusals, the difference between insufficient evidence and misrepresentation, and going after low hanging fruit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kyle Seeback is the Member of Parliament for Dufferin - Caledon. He is the author of Bill C-242, the Reuniting Families Act.Bill C-242 would allow a parent or grandparent who applies for a temporary resident visa as a visitor to purchase private health insurance outside Canada and to stay in Canada for a period of five years.On June 7, 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced that it would enact these measures through public policy. The changes will come into force on July 4, 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Langlands is a recently retired 37-year officer of the Canada Border Services Agency. He worked at land, sea, air and even mail points of entry.We discuss his career, interacting with refugee claimants and people fleeing dire circumstances, compassion, how he once found a zip-log bag labeled Antrhax in someone's suitcase, whether all CBSA interactions with applicants should be recorded, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A discussion about the Federal Court of Canada decision in Mohammad v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2022 FC 1, how being a COVID-19 front-line worker is considered in the H&C context, mandamus, tips for litigators, and how to prioritize FSW applications vs. CECRaj Sharma is a Partner at Stewart Sharma Harsanyi in Calgary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mikal Skuterud is a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo.The paper on TR-to-PR transition rates can be found here: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/36280001202200100002. The paper on outmigration can be found here: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2012340-eng.htm3:00 - Does Canada economically need high immigration levels because of low-birth rights? 6:00 Is it short sighted from an economic perspective to focus on labour market needs and the wishes of people to have their parents live with them? 9:00 Is there a way to measure whether economic immigrants are increasing or decreasing GDP per capita? 19:00 What role should immigration play in resolving short-term labour shortages? 32:00 What would be the economic consequence if all foreign workers became permanent residents? 42:00 Is there data to support the notion that international students perform better economically in Canada? 53:00 How does the concept of utility play into macroeconomic planning in the conte

A discussion about Canada's low approval rates for study permit, work permit and temporary resident visa applications for people from Africa. Professor Christian can be found at @ProfXtian on Twitter. The IRCC Anti-Racism Employee Focus Groups Final Report referenced in this episode can be found here - https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/200/301/pwgsc-tpsgc/por-ef/immigration_refugees/2021/122-20-e/POR_122-20-Final_Report_EN.pdf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A discussion of the law of self defense in Canada, including the 2021 Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Khill. We also make comparisons to the Kyle Rittenhouse case in the United States and talk about Canadian immigration implications involving the law of self defense in criminal matters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We took to Twitter to get listener questions for our first Ask Me Anything episode. 1) Will a gay refugee be deported if her sexuality changes? 2) Does Deanna have any insight or information into what is going on with caregiver applications? 3)Why are local visa offices not processing already approved express entry applications?4)How do you think realistically IRCC should change their workflow and file processing?5)Do we need to mention previous visa rejections in spousal sponsorship applications?6)Why can spouses from visa exempt countries easily reunited with their loves ones in Canada while those who need visas cannot?7)Why is there a particular hatred towards outland spousal apps? 8)What do you think about the IRCC’s local 3.5 workers to every 1 Canadian employed at the VO’s? Is this appropriate? 9) Why does artificial intelligence refuse so many applications?10)Why is the IRCC so secretive? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aditya Mohan is the founder of Robometrics, a company at the forefront of the intersection of artificial intelligence and human emotions like empahty. We discuss the increasing use of artificial intelligence in Canadian immigration legislation, its benefits, and ways to increase transparency and oversight. 3:00 - What is artificial intelligence? 8:00 - What are deep learning systems? 14:00 - How does the use of artificial intelligence intersect with the rule of law? 21:00 - How do machines learn? 24:00 - Benefits of machine learning and immigration. 27:00 - Ways to improve transparency. 41:00 - Artificial intelligence providing reasons for refusals. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A discussion about the increasing use of artificial intelligence to decide immigration applications. Mario Bellissimo is a Canadian immigration lawyer in Toronto, and the former past Chair of the Canadian Bar Association's National Immigration Law Section. 4:00How imprecise wording in the forms can result in misrepresentation findings where immigration becomes a game of gotcha. 10:30How the laws of procedural fairness and discretion will need to be re-written as a result of the implementation of artificial intelligence and predicative learning in immigration systems. 13:30How using AI to triage applications is itself a form of automated decision making and why is there a lack of transparency about this? 19:25The history of the introduction of AI at IRCC. 28:20What is Chinook and ? 36:00How processing delays can lead to applications being denied simply because they are moot. 39:00How does one learn what AI is being used or whether a decision was made by AI? 44:45If AI flags a file as being problematic does tha

Carl Brault worked for almost twenty years at the Canada Border Services Agency. His roles included Border Services Officer, Intelligence Analyst and Inland Enforcement Officer. He currently provides consultation services to authorized immigration representatives and can be reached at cb-advisingservices@outlook.com.3:00Working as a summer student as a Border Services Officer. 6:30September 11, 2011 9:50What kind of training does a CBSA officer receive before they start working at the border? 18:10Working as a CBSA Intelligence Analyst 21:30Working as an Inland Enforcement Officer 25:00Is CBSA understaffed or overstaffed? 28:30Level of autonomy officers have in deferral requests. 38:30What should lawyers or individuals do when making deferral of removal requests? 42:30The ability of CBSA to make positive decisions by not acting. 48:30What is the difference in culture across different offices? 51:15What are examples of where counsel harms their clients cause at CBSA? 54:00Do CBSA officers care about h

Sarah Runyon is a criminal defense lawyer on Vancouver Island. 3:00What is sexual assault? 5:30Is all sex between an employer and employee deemed to be non consensual? 6:00Why was sexual assault separated from general assault? Is rape a distinct offence from sexual assault? Are there degrees of sexual assault?7:30If someone is at a nightclub and they start dancing with another person without their consent does that fit the definition of sexual assault? 15:00Evidentiary issues.16:30Often the criminal defense bar wants judges to have a wide discretion in terms of what they can consider. Is this the same in the case of sexual assault? 21:00Does the maxim “it is better that five guilty people go free than one innocent person go to jail.” Is the legal system moving away from this in sexual assault? 27:00Is a restorative justice approach better than the current criminal justice system? 28:45Can sexual assault be verbal? 33:00Is revenge porn sexual assault? 34:00Is there a statutory limitation on sexual assault? 35: