Sean Rehaag is an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, the Director of the Centre for Refugee Studies and the Director of the Refugee Law Laboratory. Today we discuss his use of GPT to conduct legal research, artificial intelligence and decision making, differential results in Federal Court and Immigration and Refugee Board decisions, and how to identify if differential outcomes are actually a problem or significant. 2:00 Using GPT to conduct research. 14:00 Issues with unreported decisions or decisions lacking precedential value. Do all decisions need to have precedential value giv ..read more

Tamara Mosher Kuczer is the Founder & Principal Lawyer of Lighthouse Immigration Law Professional Corporation. She can be found on Twitter @ttrrmk. 5:00 How would you summarize 2022 for Canadian immigration? 13:23 Favorite development in Canadian immigration law 25:00 Least favorite development in Canadian immigration 39:15 Favorite Federal Court decision 52:00 What should people watch the most in 2023 56:00 What might happen this year that people might not be expecting? 1:04 What will happen with the Self-Employed Class and Start-Up Visa Program? 1:09 Will Express Entry take under 6 month ..read more

The Secure Air Travel Act provides the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness with authority to establish a list of individuals that the Minister has reasonable grounds to suspect could be a threat to aviation or national security or intends to travel by air for the purpose of terrorism. Sadaf Kashfi, works for Edelmann & Co. She advises clients on complex issues concerning U.S. and Canadian immigration, criminal law, and during the COVID-19 pandemic developed a successful practice representing individuals accused of quarantine act violations. Her e-mail is sadaf@edelmann.ca ..read more

Pantea Jafari is lead counsel at Jafari Law, which she opened in 2012. In 2022 Pantea won a successful group litigation for over 100 Iranian applicants whose applications were refused under the Self-Employed Class. Pantea successfully argued that the Canadian government unfarily changed the standards for these applicants after they had applied. We discuss the Self-Employed Class, the doctrine of legitimate expectations, breaches of procedural fairness, changing visa offices and how group litigation works ..read more

Three former counsel at the Department of Justice discuss what practicing at the DOJ is like vs. private practice. Jennifer Dagsvik worked as Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice from 2007 – 2017, and now is a Lecturer at Immigration and Refugee Law at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law in Thunder Bay, and also a Director at the Newcomer Legal Clinic there. Nalini Reddy worked as a Lawyer at the Department of Justice from 1999 to 2017. She is currently an Associate at Gindin Segal Law in Winnipeg. Rafeena Rashid worked as a Lawyer at the Department of Justice in the Immigration Division from ..read more

Peter Scarrow practiced Canadian immigration law from 1981 - 1991, opening the Taiwanese representative office for a prominent Vancouver law firm. We discuss what practicing high net worth immigration from Taiwan and China was like in the 1980s and early 1990s, ghost consultant fraud, tax avoidance, and being a private banker vs. immigration lawyer (Peter did both ..read more

David Thomas practiced immigration law from 1987 - 2014, when he was appointed Chairperson of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. During his career he developed a large investor clientele from South Korea, ran to be a Member of Parliament, and started a charity that delivered vitamins to North Korea. 3:00 - The start of Dave’s career practicing immigration law both at a large firm and then starting his own firm. 6:00 - Practicing immigration law in the 1990s. 13:00 - Do immigration lawyers travel less than they do now, reduced communication with IRCC and other changes in the practice. 18:00 ..read more

A discussion of misrepresentation, including its application, consequences, the innocent mistake defense, failing to disclose past visa refusals, the difference between insufficient evidence and misrepresentation, and going after low hanging fruit ..read more

Kyle Seeback is the Member of Parliament for Dufferin - Caledon. He is the author of Bill C-242, the Reuniting Families Act. Bill C-242 would allow a parent or grandparent who applies for a temporary resident visa as a visitor to purchase private health insurance outside Canada and to stay in Canada for a period of five years. On June 7, 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced that it would enact these measures through public policy. The changes will come into force on July 4, 2022 ..read more

David Langlands is a recently retired 37-year officer of the Canada Border Services Agency. He worked at land, sea, air and even mail points of entry. We discuss his career, interacting with refugee claimants and people fleeing dire circumstances, compassion, how he once found a zip-log bag labeled Antrhax in someone's suitcase, whether all CBSA interactions with applicants should be recorded, and more ..read more