Immigration
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July 26, 2024
Upcoming federal election: What does it mean for private clients?
Our last federal election was Sept. 20, 2021, and constitutional and statutory provisions require that the next federal election must be held no more than five years after a preceding election and by the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year after the date of the previous election, which means on or before October 20, 2025. That of course means that, while election fervour and fever continue to escalate south of the border, Canada will soon follow.
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July 25, 2024
The value of a good team of professional advisors | Kevin Kirkpatrick and Azam Rajan
We were recently on the Two Way Traffic podcast, hosted by wealth management advisor Darren Coleman. The podcast looks at a wide range of cross-border financial issues that affect many people. This time the subject was the importance of having a good team of professional advisors.
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July 25, 2024
Ottawa ordered to disclose memos about CUAET immigration program targeted by Charter challenge
A novel Charter challenge — which contends that Ottawa’s expansive Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) policy for war-affected Ukrainians unfairly discriminated against Taliban-targeted Afghans who face stricter immigration requirements — is proceeding to next steps after the Federal Court rejected a bid by the federal attorney general to avoid disclosing information that sheds light on what went into devising the generous immigration policy for Ukrainians.
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July 25, 2024
Legal status of Tibetans migrants in Canadian refugee law
Tibetans living in exile in India, Nepal and Bhutan often call themselves stateless refugees since they lost their country following China’s invasion of Tibet in the 1950s, and they still cannot return to their Tibetan homeland due to the lack of freedom and human rights and the ongoing persecution and cultural genocide by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Tibetan plateau of the Himalayas. Their lack of freedom and risk of harm, including persecution in the form of detention, torture and even death or disappearance, is reported yearly by Freedom House, Amnesty International, the U.S. International Committee on Religious Freedom and other non-Tibetan organizations. Many of these Tibetans have come to Canada seeking refugee protection.
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July 24, 2024
Federal government approves collective agreement with unionized border workers
The federal government has approved a tentative collective agreement covering about 11,000 workers with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and its Border Services bargaining unit.
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July 23, 2024
U.S. Centres for Disease Control relaxes rules for Canadian dogs crossing border
The dog days of summer 2024 are looking a little brighter — at least for Canadians crossing the border with their canines. The U.S. Centres for Disease Control (CDC) has announced it is relaxing the more rigorous rules that it previously announced would take effect Aug. 1.
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July 23, 2024
Refugees: Courts weigh in on use of facial recognition technology
The recent decision of the Federal Court in Ali v. Canada (Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), [2024] FC 1085, has brought attention to the practice of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) using facial recognition technology and photo comparisons to prove that refugees misrepresented their identity.
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July 22, 2024
Ottawa rolls out ‘special measures’ for people affected by 2024 wildfires in Canada
Canadians and permanent residents “directly affected” by wildfires in 2024 will be able to get free replacement federal documents — including permanent resident cards, Canadian citizenship certificates, Canadian passports and other travel documents — that are lost, damaged, destroyed or inaccessible due to wildfires, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced.
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July 17, 2024
Feds concerned about cross-border negative impacts of CDC’s new dog regulations
Health Minister Mark Holland has raised concerns about the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) decision to tighten import and entry requirements for dogs crossing the Canada-U.S. border effective Aug. 1, citing negative impacts on tourism, transportation and the economy for both countries.
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July 16, 2024
B.C. outlines new protections for international students
The B.C. government is introducing new protections for international students by setting higher standards and more rigorous requirements for institutions who enrol them.