Law360 Canada ( July 10, 2026, 9:35 AM EDT) -- Appeal by appellant from a judgment dismissing her application for judicial review of an Immigration Division decision finding her inadmissible to Canada for serious criminality. The appellant, a Colombian refugee claimant, pleaded guilty in Colombia to trafficking or carrying illegal drugs, received a 48-month sentence, and did not appeal. She did not dispute the conviction or the equivalency of the essential elements of the Colombian offence to a Canadian drug offence punishable by a maximum term of at least 10 years. She maintained, however, that she and her husband were coerced into committing the offence and that, although duress existed in Colombian law, it was not practically available to her because she feared retaliation if she raised it. The Immigration Division held that it was not appropriate to speculate about a defence not raised in the foreign proceedings and found her inadmissible. The Federal Court upheld that approach but certified a question asking whether in determining inadmissibility, the Immigration Division and Immigration Appeal Division could consider extenuating circumstances that caused legal defences not to be practically available in the foreign jurisdiction. The issues were whether inadmissibility decision-makers could consider circumstances that rendered duress practically unavailable abroad, and whether the Immigration Division’s decision was reasonable....