Our Team in the Media
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Suspend the US-Canada Safe Third Country Agreement to Restore Orderly Migration
Warda Shazadi Meighen is an immigration partner at Landings LLP and an adjunct professor of refugee law at the University of Toronto. Until 2004, when the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement was signed, asylum seekers could enter Canada in an orderly manner by presenting themselves at an ...
Jonathan Porter- Falling between the cracks of cornerstones: Challenging the detention of asylum seekers on identity grounds
Immigration detention on the grounds of identity is not novel in international law – many states reserve the right to detain foreign nationals where their identity is unknown. Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) permits Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to detain foreign nationals ...
Erin Simpson- They came to Canada, were in child protection, but never got legal immigration status. Now advocates are speaking up
Raised by his great-grandmother in the Dominican Republic, Fili has few memories of his parents or his sister and two brothers, who were both murdered. When his only caregiver died, the young boy, then about 10, moved in with friends he met on the streets ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Asylum seekers face a long journey to freedom along Roxham Road
It seems like an unremarkable site. A temporary building made of corrugated steel. A single white pillar outside, marking the official line between two countries. But for the tens of thousands of asylum seekers who have made the journey to that site over the past ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Calls to shut down the Roxham Road border crossing
The Current with Matt Galloway Thousands of asylum seekers enter Canada through Roxham Road in Quebec each year, but calls to close the unofficial border crossing are growing. Matt Galloway talks to Lovejoyce Amavi, a refugee and author who crossed at Roxham Road in 2017; ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Alleged Chinese police stations indication of wider ‘bullying, intimidation’ tactics, experts say
As allegations of five Chinese police stations located in Canada, including one in Vancouver, B.C., raise concerns of political interference, experts say the role of Chinese intelligence is far more widespread. Earlier this month, a friendship society in Richmond was visited by RCMP officers after ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – COVID-19 front-line worker and her family face deportation to Mexico
The Current with Matt Galloway Claudia Zamorano spent the pandemic working as a housekeeper in a COVID-19 ward in a B.C. hospital — but now she and her family face deportation to Mexico within weeks. She tells Matt Galloway her story; and we hear more ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Afghans who worked on Canadian-funded projects feel abandoned waiting for refuge in Pakistan
A group of Afghans who worked on Canadian-funded projects intended to promote the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan say they are now stuck in neighbouring Pakistan and running out of money for food and rent, more than a year after they thought they would be ...
Rachel Bryce- Canada doesn’t appear to have a plan to welcome climate migrants
Growing up in Ghana, Jamima Baada watched her community, including members of her own family, migrate from one region to another less impacted by climate change. Now she teaches climate change and human migration at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Jemima Baada teaches at ...
Landings LLP is pleased to be recognized on the Globe and Mail’s list of “Canada’s Best Law Firms” for 2023
This recognition is a testament to the hard work of each individual on the Landings team towards servicing our clients and the firm. Every person on our team contributes towards the firm's achievements -- we are proud of what Landings has accomplished in two years and excited ...
Erin Simpson – How long will Canada make this Afghan boy wait for a family reunion?
As the nine-year-old boy was shoved and pushed by the sea of desperate people behind him, his head kept turning, looking back for his parents and two younger brothers as they fell further and further behind him. When Hadisullhaq Afghanfar finally got past the front ...
Erin Simpson – ‘I’m hoping they hear my voice’: 14-year-old Afghan boy renews plea for help from Canada
A 14-year-old boy from Afghanistan is renewing his desperate plea made to the Canadian government last year as his family awaits further instruction regarding their immigration application. Last August, as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the boy, who CTV News Toronto is not identifying ...
Jacqueline Swaisland – Repatriating Afghan Refugees in the Midst of Catastrophe
The 9/11 attacks in the United States in September 2001 thrust Afghanistan to the forefront of what was declared to be the ‘war against terrorism’. The country was already languishing for more than two decades of conflict arising from the Soviet-Afghan War that forced millions of Afghans to seek refuge in ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Sarina Faizy was overjoyed when Canada evacuated her family from Afghanistan. Now she fears her father may be deported.
Sarina Faizy breathed a massive sigh of relief when her family was evacuated from Afghanistan almost six months ago after urging the Canadian government to help. But now she's confused and afraid because her father, who has been housed in a Toronto hotel since August, ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Afghan athletes who thought they were headed for Canada plead with Ottawa: ‘Don’t break our hearts’
A star of Afghanistan's national women's basketball team thought she would be in Canada by now, building a new life with her family after they were forced to flee their old one. Instead, they're stuck living in a northern Albania hotel, mired in uncertainty. Dozens of ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Owner of Kabul law firm that worked for Canadian Embassy pleads for help for employees left behind
Saeeq Shajjan's law firm in Kabul spent the past eight years working as the local legal team for the Canadian Embassy in Afghanistan. But with about two dozen of his employees still stuck in the Taliban-held country, Shajjan said the Canadian government is now ...
Recent Developments
Recent Decisions
Adair v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 342 In Adair v. Canada (MCI) Justice Rochester examined the Officer’s decision to refuse the Applicants’ sponsorship application due to the Principal Applicant (PA) not meeting the definition of a member of the family class. The PA originally arrived ...
Recent Decisions
Tofa v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 135 In Tofa v. Canada (MCI) Justice Mosley examined the Refugee Appeal Division’s (RAD) decision to refuse the Applicants’ asylum appeal, upholding the RPD’s decision that there were significant discrepancies and inconsistencies in the Applicants’ testimony and evidence. The ...
Recent Decisions
Gopalakrishnan v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 277 In Gopalakrishnan v. Canada (MCI) Justice Ahmed examined the Refugee Appeal Division’s (RAD) decision to dismiss the Applicants’ appeal on the grounds of viable internal flight alternatives (IFA) existing in Bangalore or Mumbai. The Applicants had sought asylum ...
Recent Decisions
Figarola Ahumada v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 246 In Figarola Ahumada v. Canada (MCI) Justice Brown examined the Refugee Appeal Division’s (RAD) decision to refuse the Applicants’ appeal due to credibility findings. The Applicants had initially sought asylum in Canada on the basis of feared ...
Recent Decisions
Palagot v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 214 In Palagot v. Canada (MCI) Justice Petney examined the Refugee Protection Division’s (RPD) decision to refuse to re-opening the Applicant’s asylum claim. With the aid of a fraudulent consultant, the Applicant had initially sough asylum, but due to ...
Recent Decisions
Alajnf v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 151 In Alajnf v. Canada (MCI) Justice Norris examined the Office’s decision to refuse the Applicants’ Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) application due to lack of evidence of personalized hardship in Libya. On judicial review, Justice Norris found that the ...
Recent Decisions
Zeng v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 75 In Zeng v. Canada (MCI) Justice Go examined the Applicants’ refused second refugee appeal redetermination decision. The Applicants had originally filed a claim for protection from the Chinese authorities based on the Principal Applicant’s (PA) identity as a ...
Recent Decisions
Tkabo v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 15 In Tkabo v. Canada (MCI), Justice Elliott examined both the Refugee Protection Division’s (RPD) and the Refugee Appeal Division’s (RAD) decisions to refuse the Applicant’s claim based on lack of credibility with respect to the Applicant’s identity. On ...
Recent Decisions
Thind v. Canada (MCI) 2022 FC 1782 In Thind v. Canada (MCI), Justice Rochester examined both the Refugee Protection Division’s (RPD) and the Refugee Appeal Division’s (RAD) decisions to refuse the Applicant’s claim based on the exitance of a viable IFA. The RAD determined that ...
Recent Decisions
K.M. v. Canada (MCI), 2022 FC 1726 In K.M. v. Canada (MCI), Justice Strickland examined the Minister’s decision to refuse the Applicant’s Pre-Removal Risk Application (PRRA) due to lack of forward-looking risk. The Applicant originally made a successful refugee claim and became a permanent resident ...
Recent Decisions
Thind v. Canada (MCI), 2022 FC 1644 In Thind v. Canada (MCI), Justice Ahmed assessed an Immigration Officer’s decision to refuse the Applicant’s Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) application on the grounds of lack of unique circumstances to overcome their inadmissibility. On judicial review, Justice Ahmed ...
Recent Decisions
Brown v. Canada (MCI), 2022 FC 1607 In Brown v. Canada (MCI), Justice Sadrehashemi examined the Applicants’ refugee appeal refusal. At issue was whether the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) breached procedural fairness by drawing negative credibility inference from the Applicants’ inability to provide corroborative evidence. ...
Recent Decisions
Gebru v. Canada (MCI), 2022 FC 1563 In Gebru v. Canada (MCI), the Court examined the Immigration Division’s decision to find the Applicant inadmissible to Canada pursuant to ss.34(1)(f) and 34(1)(b) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for being a member of Tigray People’s ...
Recent Decisions
AB v. Canada (MCI), 2022 FC 1540 In AB v. Canada (MCI) the Court examined the Officer’s decision to refuse the Applicant’s humanitarian and compassionate application on the grounds of "moderate" BIOC impact . On judicial review, the Court found that the Officer did not ...
Recent Decisions
Menjivar v. Canada (MCI), 2022 FC 1490 In Menjivar v. Canada (MCI), the Court explored the IAD’s decision to dismiss the applicant’s appeal on H&C grounds under section s.67(1)(c) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, on the basis that the applicant had engaged in ...