Law Commons^™

Luck Of The Draw Iii: Using Ai To Examine Decision‐Making In Federal Court Stays Of Removal, Sean Rehaag

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This article examines decision‐making in Federal Court of Canada immigration law applications for stays of removal, focusing on how the rates at which stays are granted depend on which judge decides the case. The article deploys a form of computational natural language processing, using a large‐language model machine learning process (GPT‐3) to extract data from online Federal Court dockets. The article reviews patterns in outcomes in thousands of stay of removal applications identified through this process and reveals a wide range in stay grant rates across many judges. The article argues that the Federal Court should take measures to encourage …

Transgender Erasure: Barriers Facing Transgender Refugees In Canada, Sean Rehaag, Alexandra Verman

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This paper explores the experiences of transgender refugee claimants in Canada’s refugee status determination system, using mixed methods: quantitative analysis of data obtained from the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), reviews of published and unpublished decisions, country condition documentation packages and IRB guidelines, as well as interviews with refugee lawyers. Using these methods, we explore how credibility arises in transgender refugee claims, noting the impact of medicalization and country conditions materials on transgender claims, and drawing parallels between medical gatekeeping and credibility assessments in refugee claims. We identify potential explanations for low recorded numbers of transgender claims as rooted in …

The Legal Relations Of ‘Private’ Forests: Making And Unmaking Private Forest Lands On Vancouver Island, Estair Van Wagner

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While the vast majority of forestlands in Canada are considered ‘Crown land’, there are key areas of private forestland. On private land the incidents of fee simple ownership mean the owner emerges as land use decision maker – the “agenda setter” for the land. Yet a richer set of legal relations exists in these forests.

Indigenous legal orders derived from an enduring relationship with the land and place also govern forestlands. Using the case of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway lands in British Columbia, this article explores the intersection between historical and contemporary human-forest relations upheld by Anglo-Canadian law and …

Restricted Access To Justice For Canadians Mistreated Abroad: Abdelrazik V. Canada (Re: Interim Costs), Sean Rehaag

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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, …