CHC Delhi and Findings of Misrepresentation -Spousal Open Work Permits

July 24, 2020 Interview with Danielle Smith on the Federal Court striking down the Safe Third Country Agreement

Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Lawyers · July 24, 2020 Interview with Danielle Smith -Court Rules Canada – U S Safe Third

Practicing Immigration Law in the Time of COVID-19

I have practiced immigration law for over 17 years; prior to that I was a Refugee Protection Officer -sort of tribunal counsel to the RPD -the largest Division within the IRB, itself the largest administrative decision making tribunal in Canada. COVID-19 and the response to the pandemic was an unprecedented disruption to the practice of

Safe Third Country Agreement Struck Down

History Safe Third Country Agreement between US and Canada – in effect since Dec 2014 CDN and US declare each other as safe for refugees Applies to refugees arriving from US at a Canada land POE … with some exceptions (family member in Canada, unaccompanied minors, stateless individuals) First legal challenge to the constitutionality of

July 2, 2020 Transcript -Interview with Danielle Smith on Jason Kenney’s Proposed Changes to LMIA and the AINP

Danielle Smith:                  There was a, there’s a major announcements that the premier did on some Monday, Tuesday, sorry. Mondays are running together. Can’t even remember what day it is, but you’ve got a staff holiday in the middle of the week. … I think it was Tuesday a major announcement and he had a number

Fired from Your Job? What You Need to Know

Things to Consider if You Are Terminated   By Sania Chaudhry  This blog post only applies to non-unionized workers and those who work under provincial regulation. If you are in a union or work under federal regulations, then different rules apply to you. As the below is not specific to your case, this does not constitute legal advice. Please

Constructive Dismissal -What you Need to Know

Constructive Dismissal: What to do if you have been forced out of your job?  By Sania Chaudhry  This blog post only applies to non-unionized workers and those who work under provincial regulation. If you are in a union or work under federal regulations, then different rules apply to you. As the below is not specific to your

Humanitarian and Compassionate Applications -in the Age of COVID-19

I predict that there will be an increase to the number of Humanitarian and Compassionate applications (for Permanent Residence) as a result of COVID-19. The pandemic is wreaking havoc with the plans made by many foreign nationals living in Canada hoping to make this country home. Many will lose their status and many will lose

The Procedural Fairness Letter

The lawyers at this office are often called upon to respond to Procedural Fairness Letters -letters sent by Officers after there is a concern regarding the completeness/truthfulness/inadmissibility. As with many things in life, prevention is the best medicine. Applications should be complete and potential concerns should be dealt with (if possible) in advance. Applicants should

Misrepresentation

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.”    Walter Scott, Marmion  Dealing with the allegation(s) of misrepresentation is a difficult task. In many ways, dealing with misrepresentation is harder than dealing with criminality. The consequences for a finding of misrepresentation are harsh -a 5 year ban on future applications to enter Canada and removal for

COVID and Canadian Immigration Policy

COVID (and our response to the pandemic) has changed our lives and the assumptions we made in the course of our lives. I think it’s essentially impossible to know the medium term impact on immigration. There is of course plenty of prognostication and prediction: But as the nation’s economy plunges into recession, millions are being cast

Refugee Claims and Exclusion from the Convention

Exclusion Clauses – Article 1(E)   Certain individuals are excluded from the grant of protection. These are the exclusion provisions; some don’t need Canada’s protection, and some don’t deserve Canada’s protection (Articles 1F..)   In the case of the former: in order to be excluded from the Convention -a claimant’s status in another country must

Hope for those Excluded from Sponsoring Family Members under s.117(9)(d)

We have written on the harsh consequences of omitting family members when an applicant immigrates to Canada. They are then precluded from sponsoring those family members in the future. The only recourse used to be a humanitarian and compassionate application -a remedy that was completely at the discretion of a visa officer. There is now

Options for Farm and Agricultural Workers

The Agri-Food Immigration Class pilot is starting in early 2020. Focus on attracting butchers, food processing labourers, harvesters for mushrooms ad greenhouse crops, farm workers for mushrooms, greenhouse crops, livestock raising, and livestock workers. Max number of applications to be processed under this class is 2,750. Eligibility: During the 3 years preceding their PR application,

May 9, 2019 Interview on the Danielle Smith Show -the Growing Refugee Backlog and the Auditor General Report

Danielle Smith:                  …you probably saw that the press conference, a couple of days ago from the Auditor-General talking about the myriad problems that we have at the federal level, but this is one that we have known about because my guest has been raising the alarm about this ever since at the crisis of people

The Exploitation of Temporary Foreign Workers -Interview on CBC Edmonton March 8, 2019

  Tara McCarthy:                 A foreign worker from Edmonton is now in hiding. She says the owner of an Edmonton restaurant that sponsored her work visa tried to extort her for sex. If she didn’t comply, he threatened to withdraw her immigration application. The woman who can’t be named, due to a publication ban, was sponsored

What’s Next for the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program? Albertaprime Time Interview on Jason Kenney and the #UCP Immigration Plan for Alberta March 1, 2019

Michael Higgins:     An immigration plan to help reverse shrinking populations in rural Alberta. Jason Kenney’s Alberta Advantage Immigration Strategy would speed up processing and end large backlogs with an aim of bringing 10,000 newcomers to rural Alberta communities, giving priority to committed entrepreneurs …   Jason Kenney:         … who take big risks to turn a

Interview on the Jon McComb Show – February 5, 2019 – Immigration Consequences for Jaskirat Singh Sidhu Guilty Plea

Paul Jefferson:                  “Yes, we helped [inaudible 00:00:03] but at the same time he’s a human being who … he’s not a serial killer. He didn’t go out and kill anybody that day.” Jon McComb:                    The thoughts of Paul Jefferson. He is a billet parent for the Humboldt Broncos. Speaking about Jaskirat Singh Sidhu at a

Interview discussing Rahaf Al-Qunun with Ryan Jespersen AM 630 CHED January 14, 2019

Ryan Jespersen:               … in just a moment. Wanted to bring you this. Of course, you know the story by now if you’ve been paying attention to the news cycle. Canada granting asylum to a Saudi woman that says essentially that her future involved death. It says she said that she was going to be killed;

September 12, 2018 -Interview with Rob Breakenridge -The Surge in Border Crossings at Canada’s Border

R Breakenridge: The asylum seekers debate isn’t going away anytime soon. But more to it, I mean the problem itself isn’t going away anytime soon. Reasonable people can disagree on how big a problem it is or whether it warrants the term crisis, but it’s clearly a situation that we’re not prepared to deal that,