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Unappealing: An Assessment Of The Limits On Appeal Rights In Canada's New Refugee Determination System, Angus Gavin Grant, Sean Rehaag
Unappealing: An Assessment Of The Limits On Appeal Rights In Canada's New Refugee Determination System, Angus Gavin Grant, Sean Rehaag
Sean Rehaag
Canada’s refugee determination system was revised in 2012. One key feature of the new process is a quasi-judicial administrative appeal, on matters of both fact and law, at the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). Under the new process, however, many claimants are denied access to the RAD. This article assesses these limits on access to the RAD, drawing mostly on quantitative data obtained from the IRB and Citizenship and Immigration Canada through access to information requests. Our aim is to provide evidence-based analysis and recommendations for reform. Essentially, our conclusions are that the bars …
Bisexuals Need Not Apply: A Comparative Appraisal Of Refugee Law And Policy In Canada, The United States, And Australia, Sean Rehaag
Sean Rehaag
This paper offers an analysis of refugee claims on grounds of bisexuality. After discussing the grounds on which sexual minorities may qualify for refugee status under international refugee law, the paper empirically assesses the success rates of bisexual refugee claimants in three major host states: Canada, the United States, and Australia. It concludes that bisexuals are significantly less successful than other sexual minority groups in obtaining refugee status in those countries. Through an examination of selected published decisions involving bisexual refugee claimants, the author identifies two main areas for concern that may partly account for the difficulties that bisexual refugee …
Restricted Access To Justice For Canadians Mistreated Abroad: Abdelrazik V. Canada (Re: Interim Costs), Sean Rehaag
Restricted Access To Justice For Canadians Mistreated Abroad: Abdelrazik V. Canada (Re: Interim Costs), Sean Rehaag
Sean Rehaag
Abousfian Abdelrazik is a Canadian citizen who, after having his name added to various anti-terrorism lists, and after being tortured by Sudanese officials, found himself unable to return home from Sudan largely because of Canadian government actions. Abdelrazik sought to challenge the constitutionality of these restrictions on his ability to return to Canada. However, he had no money and no means of support, as he was unable to leave a Canadian embassy in Sudan where he had sought refuge to avoid further torture by Sudanese officials. He therefore brought a motion for interim costs in Canada’s Federal Court. If granted, …
The Role Of Counsel In Canada's Refugee Determinations System: An Empirical Assessment, Sean Rehaag
The Role Of Counsel In Canada's Refugee Determinations System: An Empirical Assessment, Sean Rehaag
Sean Rehaag
This article examines the role of counsel in Canada's refugee determination process through an investigation of over 70,000 refugee decisions from 2005 to 2009. The article demonstrates that counsel is a key factor driving successful outcomes. The article also shows that legal aid programs are increasingly restrictive in funding legal representation for refugee claimants. The author argues that these restrictions put the lives of refugees at risk. The article also demonstrates that claimants represented by immigration consultants are less likely to succeed than claimants represented by lawyers. This, combined with evidence that the immigration consulting industry has not established adequate …
No Refuge: Hungarian Romani Refugee Claimants In Canada, Julianna Beaudoin, Jennifer Danch, Sean Rehaag
No Refuge: Hungarian Romani Refugee Claimants In Canada, Julianna Beaudoin, Jennifer Danch, Sean Rehaag
Sean Rehaag
From 2008 to 2012, large numbers of Hungarian Romani refugee claimants came to Canada. Their arrival was controversial. Some political actors suggested that their claims were unfounded and amounted to abuse of Canada’s refugee processes -- abuse which could only be prevented through wide-scale reforms to the refugee determination system. Many advocates for refugees, by contrast, argued that persecution against Roma was rampant in Hungary and noted that hundreds of Hungarians had been recognized as refugees in Canada. Some went further and contended that Romani refugee claimants fled persecution in Hungary only to be confronted with similar mistreatment in Canada. …
Poverty Law, Access To Justice, And Ethical Lawyering: Celebrating 40 Years Of Clinical Education At Osgoode Hall Law School, Shelley Gavigan, Sean Rehaag
Poverty Law, Access To Justice, And Ethical Lawyering: Celebrating 40 Years Of Clinical Education At Osgoode Hall Law School, Shelley Gavigan, Sean Rehaag
Sean Rehaag
Collects papers presented at the Symposium in 2011 celebrating forty years of clinical legal education at Osgoode Hall Law School.