Our Team in the Media

Warda Shazadi Meighen – Quebec premier says Ottawa should forcibly relocate half of asylum seekers

2024-10-03T19:03:05+00:00October 3rd, 2024|Tags: |

Premier François Legault has made immigration a major focus of his visit to Paris, demanding that the federal government force asylum seekers in Quebec to move elsewhere, including people who have already settled in the province. Half of the would-be refugees currently in Quebec should be transferred to other provinces, he told reporters on Wednesday at the offices of the Quebec ...

Warda Shazadi Meighen – Federal Court to launch new plan for Canadian study permit appeals amid rising immigration cases

2024-10-01T17:07:00+00:00October 1st, 2024|Tags: |

The Federal Court is launching a new initiative to streamline how it reviews refused study permit applications. This comes as the number of immigration cases coming before the court continues to surge for the third consecutive year, with filings expected to reach 24,000 by the end of the December — about four times the yearly average in the five years ...

Erin Simpson – This Syrian trans woman has been stranded in an airport for seven months after Canada pulled her refugee status mid-journey

2024-10-01T17:00:45+00:00October 1st, 2024|Tags: |

When Arwa Almsrawi’s plane lifted off in Saudi Arabia, beginning a journeythat was to take her to Vancouver, she couldn’t help but dream of the new lifethat awaited her on the other side. A transgender woman from Syria, Almsrawi had been granted refugee status by Canada, following a referral from the U.N. Refugee Agency. After fleeing civil war in her ...

Jacqueline Swaisland – Ethiopian spy eligible to apply for refugee status, court rules, despite agency’s targeting of dissidents abroad

2024-04-16T14:15:16+00:00April 16th, 2024|Tags: |

A former member of an Ethiopian spy agency that targeted that country’s journalists and dissidents abroad is eligible to apply for refugee status in Canada because his spy activities were “not contrary to Canada’s interests,” the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled. Medhanie Weldemariam, who worked as a software developer for an Ethiopian state security agency, landed at Toronto’s Pearson ...

Warda Shazadi Meighen-Palestinians face red tape, delays in applications to come to Canada, families here say

2024-02-09T16:02:07+00:00February 9th, 2024|

The federal government is facing mounting criticism over an immigration program that’s meant to reunite Canadians and permanent residents with their relatives who are trapped in Gaza. People trying to bring their loved ones here, and the lawyers representing them, say the program is restrictive, confusing and intrusive. The Globe spoke with several Palestinian-Canadians and permanent residents, as well as ...

Warda Shazadi Meighen-Canada’s controversial ban on adoptions from several Muslim countries sparks court challenge

2024-01-23T18:54:33+00:00January 23rd, 2024|

A major challenge of Canada's ban on adoptions from several Muslim countries is set to play out in the Federal Court — a move some legal observers say wouldn't be necessary if the government wasn't upholding what they call a "discriminatory" policy. The case, which could be heard as early as April, comes more than five years after the federal government promised to review the ...

Jacqueline Swaisland- The Supreme Court just reined in the scope of a Canadian security law. Refugee advocates are praising the ruling

2024-01-10T20:12:09+00:00September 28th, 2023|Tags: |

The Supreme Court of Canada has imposed a limit on the power of immigration officials and government tribunals to remove foreign nationals with no criminal convictions on security grounds. In a unanimous judgment released on Wednesday, the country’s highest court says if Canada is going to deport a non-citizen on “security grounds,” authorities must show that the person poses not just ...

Jacqueline Swaisland- SCC applies Vavilov standard of review framework; overturns FCA on immigration inadmissibility

2024-01-10T20:12:54+00:00September 28th, 2023|Tags: |

Applying the Vavilov standard of review framework, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 8-0 that non-citizens can be found inadmissible to Canada and deported under the s. 34(1)(e) “security grounds” provision of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) only if the non-citizen’s alleged violent conduct had a nexus to national security or the security of Canada. On Sept. 27 Supreme Court of ...

Erin Simpson-SCC rules Safe 3rd Country Agreement with U.S. doesn’t infringe asylum seekers’ Charter s. 7 rights

2024-01-10T20:13:50+00:00June 22nd, 2023|

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 8-0 that a regulatory provision designating the United States as a “safe third country” to which most asylum seekers arriving at the Canada-U.S. border can safely be returned to make their refugee claims is not ultra vires nor an infringement of their Charter s. 7 rights to liberty and security of the person.However, the top ...

Erin Simpson-Human Rights Groups on SCC Ruling of Safe Third Country Agreement

2024-01-10T20:14:33+00:00June 16th, 2023|

On Parliament Hill, three human rights organizations respond to the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on the constitutionality of the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement. The top court has ruled that the agreement recognizing the two countries as safe places for asylum seekers is constitutional.Taking part in the news conference are representatives from groups that, alongside eight plaintiffs, launched the ...

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