This case challenges the exclusion from recognition, under Canadian immigration law, of parent-child relationships established through guardianship and related legal processes in Muslim countries.
The applications were heard by Justice Pentney of the Federal Court from March 9 to 11, 2026. Written submissions addressing recent developments in the Supreme Court of Canada’s equality jurisprudence closed in June 2026.
Landings serves as lead counsel to the Applicants, alongside co-counsel at Downtown Legal Services, the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.
The Court’s judgment remains under reserve.
Legal Issues
Canadian citizens and permanent residents looking to adopt internationally may form parent-child relationships through court-supervised processes abroad and subsequently seek recognition of those relationships under Canadian immigration law. In many Islamic religious traditions, a child’s biological lineage remains permanent, often as a matter of identity rather than as a legal proposition concerning parental rights and obligations. Courts in Muslim-majority countries may nevertheless terminate or transfer parental rights and responsibilities through judicial processes. In Pakistan, this legal process is known as legal guardianship or judicial kafala.
For immigration purposes, subsection 3(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations requires an adoption to create a legal parent-child relationship and sever the child’s pre-existing legal parent-child relationship. As a result, certain court-established parent-child relationships arising from legal systems that do not provide for adoption in the same form as Canadian law may not be recognized as adoptions under the ordinary immigration process. In 2013, the federal government adopted a policy concerning the recognition of Pakistani guardianship orders for immigration purposes. Similar approaches were subsequently applied in relation to a number of other Muslim-majority countries.
The Applicants challenge the operation of this framework, including its interaction with the regulatory severance requirement. The record before the Court addresses, among other matters, the legal effect of foreign guardianship orders, Islamic family-law principles, comparative approaches to adoption and guardianship, the recognition of foreign judgments, the best interests of children, and the experiences of affected families.
The Applicants argue that the framework has a disproportionate impact on Canadian Muslim families and infringes section 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on the intersecting grounds of religion and national or ethnic origin. They also advance arguments concerning other Charter protections and principles of private international law governing the recognition of foreign judgments. Canada maintains that the framework is constitutional. Its position relies, among other things, on international obligations, child-protection and anti-trafficking concerns, and the respective roles of the federal and provincial governments. These issues remain before the Federal Court for determination.
Recent IRCC Guidance
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has recently issued guidance addressing guardianship and kafala arrangements in the context of humanitarian and compassionate applications. The guidance directs officers considering discretionary relief to assess the individual circumstances of a case, including the nature of the family relationship, the consequences of separation and the best interests of the child. The guidance does not amend the underlying regulatory definition of adoption or the severance requirement in subsection 3(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.
Contact
For further information please contact:
Warda Shazadi Meighen
Partner, Landings LLP
wshazadimeighen@landingslaw.com
+1 647 660 9975