Our Team in the Media
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 ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Memo to the new cabinet: Canada must meet the moment in Afghanistan
Imagine that you are a female judge in Afghanistan at this very moment: having gone from being in the epicenter of justice just a few months ago to a basement hideaway trying not to breathe too loudly. You are now hunted by the Taliban, by ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen & Rachel Bryce – Climate migration is already happening – Canada must lead in developing a coherent response
Representatives from much of the world gathered in Glasgow to discuss how to respond to the existential impacts of climate change. COP26 brought with it a heightened sense of urgency and the destructive effects of climate change can no longer be ignored, even for the ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – « J’ai pu fuir, mais je recommence tout à zéro » : une juge afghane en exil se confie
Tayeba Parsa fait partie des rares femmes juges à avoir réussi à quitter Kaboul après l’arrivée des talibans. Elle vit depuis en Europe de l’Est, ignorant ce que l’avenir lui réserve. Dans un témoignage exclusif, elle replonge dans les souvenirs de son périple mouvementé et ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Is it time for Canada to open its doors to climate migrants?
As huge swathes of the world become uninhabitable due to rising heat, a group of refugee lawyers say Canada could become an important oasis. In February 2021, Ana Hernandez stood on the south bank of the Rio Grande River cradling her two-year-old son as they ...
Erin Simpson – “I defied the Taliban, and now my family is in grave danger”
On the morning they left, my elderly parents, older brother, sister-in-law, nephews and niece all watched as their neighbours packed up cars filled with clothes, food and water. Women frantically urged their children into waiting cars, their faces veiled and bodies engulfed by sky-blue burkas...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Lawyers speaking for the ignored during the pandemic
While the many negative impacts of the pandemic are obvious, including lives and livelihoods lost, others are not as visible. In this issue, we spoke with a few lawyers who are working to change that...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – The path to Canadian immigration has gotten a bit bumpy with COVID-19
For at least some would-be immigrants to Canada, there was a bit of good news announced in mid-February. The federal government said that it sent invitations to 27,300 candidates to apply for permanent resident status under the Canadian Experience Class category, giving them 90 days ...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – Why Canada needs to think about accepting climate change refugees
As countries around the world wrestle with the growing impacts of global warming — including fires, droughts and rising sea levels — there's one that critics say Canada is failing to properly consider: climate change refugees...
Warda Shazadi Meighen – 2021 Lexpert Leading Lawyer to Watch in the area of immigration
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory profiles leading practitioners across Canada in over 60 practice areas and leading law firms in over 40 practice areas as identified via an extensive, annual peer survey...
Recent Developments
Recent Decisions
St. Brice v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 1139 In St. Brice v. Canada (MCI), Justice Régimbald reviewed the Applicant’s Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) decision. The Applicant was a 31-year-old bisexual man, with a cognitive impairment, who feared persecution in St. Lucia due to his sexual ...
Recent Decisions
Ahmad v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 1087 In Ahmad v. Canada (MCI), Justice Southcott examined the Applicant’s cessation decision. The Applicant was granted asylum in 2010 and permanent resident status in 2011. Since then, the Applicant was issued two Pakistani passports and travelled to said ...
Recent Decisions
Sharma v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 1034 In Sharma v. Canada (MCI), Justice Aylen assessed the Applicant’s Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) decision. The Applicant originally sought asylum in Canada based on fear of persecution by a Hindu-nationalist paramilitary organization, the Rashtriya Sangh [RSS] and the ...
Recent Decisions
Li v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 957 In Li v. Canada (MCI) Justice Manson examined the Applicant’s Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) decision. The Applicant had originally entered Canada in 2016, along with his father, and sought asylum based on persecution by the Chinese authorities for ...
Recent Decisions
Brzezinski v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 936 In Brzezinski v. Canada (MCI), Justice Strickland examined the Applicants’ Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) refusal. The Applicants had claimed refugee protection on grounds of feared persecution in Poland due to their Roma identity. The RPD had rejected their ...
Recent Decisions
Obazughanmwen v. Canada (MPSEP) 2023 FCA 151 In Obazughanmwen v. Canada (MPSEP), Justices Gleason, Pelletier, and de Montigny, examined the Appellant’s Federal Court referrals, which the Appellant argued should be set aside and returned for reconsideration for more in depth consideration of the Humanitarian and ...
Recent Decisions
Abbas v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 871 In Abbas v. Canada (MCI) Justice Walker assessed the Applicant’s Refugee Protection Division (RPD) cessation decision. The Applicant was a journalist from Pakistan who had penned critical pieces of President Musharraf’s regime. He fled Pakistan in 2002 and ...
Recent Decisions
Nguyen v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 845 In Nguyen v. Canada (MCI) Justice Southcott examined the Applicant’s Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) refusal. The Applicant was a citizen of Vietnam who had claimed asylum in Canada based on persecution due to his support of human rights ...
Recent Decisions
Canadian Council for Refugees v. Canada (MCI) 2023 SCC 17 In Canadian Council for Refugees v. Canada (MCI) Justices Kaiser, Wagner, Karakatsanis, Côté, Rowe, Martin, Jamal and O'Bonsawin JJ examined the constitutionality of legislative provisions implementing the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA). The STCA is ...
Recent Decisions
Singh v. Canada (MPSEP) 2023 FC 743 In Singh v. Canada (MPSEP) Justice Gascon reviewed the Applicant’s Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) refusal. On judicial review, Justice Gascon found that due to the incompetence of the Applicant’s former counsel, there was a miscarriage of justice that ...
Recent Decisions
Khan v. Canada (MCI) 2023 FC 727 In Khan v. Canada (MCI), Justice O’Reilly examined the Officer’s decision to refuse the Applicant’s humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) application. The Applicant was a citizen of Afghanistan, who fled the country fearing persecution due to being a member ...
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 ...