With the high-profile coverage of Ebrahim Toure and Kashif Ali, issues surrounding immigration detention has received increased scrutiny from public and legal communities alike. In a few weeks, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) will hear the case of Tusif Ur Rehman Chhina, a man who was held in an Albertan immigration detention facility for […]
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC” or the “Court”) in R v Wong, 2018 SCC 25 [Wong, SCC] held that guilty pleas must be informed. This means that the accused must be aware of the nature of the allegations made against him/her, the effect of the plea, and the collateral consequences of the plea, […]
In Brown v Canada (Public Safety), 2018 ONCA 14 [Brown], the Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) found that Alvin Brown’s rights not to be arbitrarily imprisoned or subjected to cruel and unusual punishment were not breached—despite the fact that he had been detained for five years awaiting immigration removal, and the existence of international guidelines against […]
In Tran v Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness) 2017 SCC 50 [Tran], the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) applied principles of statutory interpretation to answer two questions: First, does a ‘term of imprisonment’ under section 36(1)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, SC 2011, c 27 [IRPA] include conditional sentences? Second, is the […]
The Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement (“The Agreement”), the agreement between Canada and the US that deems the other country a “safe country” under each country’s respective immigration laws, may now need to be called into question. The Agreement, which is current domestic law under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act SC 2001, c 27 […]
“It’s official – second class citizenship goes into effect.” - British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (“BCCLA”), regarding Bill C-24 (now law). Strong words. I am always skeptical of strong words. More than half the time, they are hyperbole intended to deceive. I was skeptical of these words, too. So I went straight to the source: […]
In MM v United States of America, 2015 SCC 62 [MM], both the public and the Bench were sharply divided on whether to extradite a mother, MM. The U.S. sought extradition of MM to face child abduction charges in the state of Georgia. MM’s numerous supporters see her as a mother that came to her children’s […]
The recent Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) decision in Jeyakannan Kanthasamy v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 SCC 61 [Kanthasamy] is an exciting and welcome development in immigration and refugee law as it broadens the scope and definition of humanitarian and compassionate grounds under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, SC 2001, c […]
With the intensification of the Syrian crisis, refugees have been much in the news lately. Refugees also became a quasi-central issue during the earlier part of the 2015 Canadian federal election campaign. The past 9 years of Conservative government have proven transformational for Canada’s refugee and immigration system, some would argue for the worst. In […]
The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) recently denied leave to appeal from the Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) decision in McAteer v Canada (Attorney General), 2014 ONCA 578. The case was a challenge to the requirement under the Citizenship Act, RSC 1985, c C-29, to swear an oath to the Queen during the Canadian citizenship […]