Immigration

  • September 30, 2026

    APPEALS - Grounds - Question of law - Powers of appellate court - New trial

    Appeal by the appellants against their convictions; appeal by Qita against his sentence. The appellants were found guilty on 10 of 14 charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

  • September 29, 2026

    Writs of mandamus in U.S. immigration law: What they are, when to use them

    In general, a writ of mandamus (“mandamus”) is a formal court order that requires a government official, an agency or a lower court to take a specific action. The action must be within the duties of the office, agency or court, and there must be a legal requirement that the action be performed. Mandamus is extraordinary relief and is effectively utilized when there is a clear legal duty to be performed, a clear right to relief on the part of the petitioner, and the petitioner appears to have no alternative to obtain the relief they deserve.

  • September 25, 2026

    Exclusive: Supreme Court of Canada Justice Suzanne Côté mulls her post-bench future

    Supreme Court of Canada Justice Suzanne Côté is thinking about what life after the bench might look like, she tells Law360 Canada. The court’s impactful and most prolific judge, who turned 68 this week with no apparent loss of drive or energy, says she is healthy and still loves the work that has earned her a reputation as a trailblazer and original thinker.

  • September 25, 2026

    Two distinct tests in Start-Up Visa applications and the cost of conflating them

    In Punjwani v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2026 FC 1033, the Federal Court addressed a recurring analytical error in Start-Up Visa cases: treating the qualifying-business requirements in s. 98.06 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227 (IRPR), as though they answered an artificial-transaction finding under paragraph 89(b). They do not. The provisions impose different requirements, and an argument directed to one may fail to address a refusal under the other.

  • September 23, 2026

    Canadian justice system attracts EU interest amid rule of law threats abroad: top judge

    Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner says Canada’s independent justice system and perspective on confronting global threats to the rule of law has attracted interest abroad. Speaking Sept. 22 at a Newfoundland and Labrador law society event in St. John’s, Chief Justice Wagner told local lawyers and those online that he was the only non-European court leader invited to attend the meeting in Cyprus last June of the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the 27-member European Union (EU).

  • September 21, 2026

    Ottawa’s flagship bill on ‘Building Canada Strong’ aims for labour reforms, faster project reviews

    The Carney government says its proposed “Building Canada Strong” legislation and supporting Cabinet directive will ensure that federal reviews and decisions on major project proposals are completed within one year of a “comprehensive” submission by the project’s proponents. The 243-page Building Canada Strong Act (Bill C-39) was introduced in the House of Commons Sept. 21 by Transport Minister and Government House leader Steven MacKinnon.

  • September 18, 2026

    Six myths about appointing guardians for your minor children if you die

    People often put off preparing their wills for many reasons. What often brings about a mindset shift is the birth of a child. Suddenly, parents start asking questions they may not have considered before: What happens if I die? Who will take care of my child if my child is still a minor? Who will make important decisions for them?

  • September 17, 2026

    Ottawa must freeze economic immigration and clear the ‘Lost Canadians’ backlog

    It currently takes Ottawa up to 33 months to print a single piece of paper confirming what Canadian law already dictates: that nearly 140,000 “Lost Canadians” are rightful citizens. Yet, as the federal government prepares its 2027 immigration levels, voices are already urging a return to high discretionary quotas. Ottawa must ignore them. Before reopening the economic immigration taps, the government must freeze new intake and redirect its bureaucracy to clear a staggering, self-inflicted crisis under Bill C-3, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025).

  • September 16, 2026

    Could your business afford to lose key foreign workers next year?

    As employers begin planning for 2027, they should take the opportunity to review the immigration status of their foreign national workforce. In addition to operational disruptions, employers may also face regulatory and compliance risks if foreign nationals work without legal work authorization.

  • September 16, 2026

    Ottawa & judges dispute if Carney gov’t gave meaningful effect to judicial pay commission’s work

    A behind-the-scenes bid by federal chief justices to make future recommendations from the federal independent judicial pay commission process binding on Ottawa is on hold as representatives of Canada’s 1,200 federal judges and Federal Court associate judges sue the Carney government for allegedly not giving “meaningful effect” to the work and non-binding advice of the latest quadrennial Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission (Giardini Commission.)

  • September 15, 2026

    Some Alberta farmers have employment standards rights, sometimes

    All employees in Alberta have rights under the Employment Standards Code, Occupational Health and Safety Act, Workers Compensation Act and Human Rights Act, right?

  • September 14, 2026

    CBSA removes 111 people in effort to disrupt extortion networks

    The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has removed 111 foreign nationals from Canada as part of an enforcement initiative targeting people with suspected links to extortion and organized crime.

  • September 14, 2026

    Canada strong? Not until we have strong citizenship

    Like the air we breathe, citizenship is normally taken for granted — until it’s stripped away. I know this intimately. At age 6, Canada revoked my citizenship, despite my birth on Canadian soil to two Canadian-citizen parents. It took 47 years to reclaim my birthright, and when I finally did, it was as an immigrant. The United States — a country to which I never pledged allegiance — granted me citizenship. My own country denied me any say in my destiny.

  • September 11, 2026

    SCC sets Charter s. 11(b) test for unreasonable post-verdict delay; nixes Ontario’s 5-month ceiling

    Ruling 9-0 in favour of the Ontario Crown’s position, the Supreme Court of Canada has declined to impose a presumptive time cap on post-conviction sentencing delays or to make a stay of proceedings the mandatory Charter remedy for unreasonable post-verdict sentencing delay that breaches an offender’s s. 11(b) Charter right to trial within a reasonable time.

  • September 11, 2026

    RBC’s immigration reset diagnoses the problem, but solutions remain elusive

    RBC’s new report, “A Smarter Immigration Strategy: Five Questions That Could Help Shape Canada’s Future,” arrives at an opportune moment. Published Sept. 1, it draws on consultations with more than 60 economists, demographers, policymakers and other experts.

  • September 09, 2026

    Listed Iranian entities and Canadian immigration files: The bar is not automatic

    Canada is still adding names to the Special Economic Measures (Iran) Regulations. Amendments registered on Feb. 13, March 25 and Aug. 13, 2026, put further individuals and entities on Schedule 1. Global Affairs Canada continues to state the immigration consequence in one sentence: listed individuals are inadmissible under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

  • September 08, 2026

    Federal judges’ legal tab so far tops $1M as they take constitutional pay dispute to court

    Ottawa has agreed that the federal judiciary reasonably incurred more than $1 million in legal fees and disbursements to participate in the independent quadrennial process that is meant to depoliticize determinations of federal judicial remuneration and avoid pay disputes.

  • September 03, 2026

    How technology is changing immigration processing

    Technology has transformed the practice of immigration law and continues to do so. Practitioners from the past few decades will remember collecting forms from the office of United States Immigration and Naturalization Service and typing information on a typewriter. Some forms were required in multiple copies, with sheets of carbon in between. Many forms were required to be filed on specific colours of paper, including blue, yellow, green and pumpkin. If we did not want to mail in the forms, we could walk into the government office, pay the fee and file the forms in person.

  • September 01, 2026

    Entrepreneur immigration files: When the business plan and financial evidence don’t reconcile

    Entrepreneur immigration files often contain two narratives. One is commercial: the business plan explains what the applicant intends to establish, acquire or operate. The other is financial: bank statements, tax records, corporate documents and transaction histories explain where the applicant’s capital came from and what funds are actually available. Problems arise when those narratives are reviewed separately and do not reconcile.

  • August 28, 2026

    Rethinking Canada’s caregiver programs: Insights from Hong Kong’s model

    Canada’s productivity debate usually focuses on taxes, capital and permits, but care availability is also an economic variable. According to Statistics Canada, in 2024, 59.5 per cent of Canadian child care centres were operating at maximum capacity, 77.3 per cent had active waitlists and 86.4 per cent reported difficulty filling vacant positions.

  • August 27, 2026

    Groups in Manitoba must work together to break down A2J barriers: law society

    The inability to afford a lawyer remains the biggest barrier to legal services in Manitoba, but obstacles also arise when various bodies operate in silos rather than coming together to serve the “whole person,” an official says following the release of a survey on access to justice in the province. Earlier this month, the Law Society of Manitoba (LSM) released its “What We Heard from Community Report” as part of its ongoing Access to Justice (A2J) Initiative.

  • August 27, 2026

    Counsel should check that trial transcripts filed on appeal aren’t AI-created fakes, lawyer advises

    As AI-generated court filings by self-represented litigants proliferate, appellate counsel should read trial transcripts that are ostensibly “certified” more closely than ever and do so earlier in the appeal process as they might be AI-created fakes, advises a senior family law practitioner.

  • August 26, 2026

    Canada needs an enhanced visa assurance framework

    Canada should establish a transparent, evidence-based framework under which immigration applications connected to jurisdictions presenting demonstrable verification, fraud or security challenges receive enhanced scrutiny and, subject to narrow exceptions, a mandatory in-person visa interview.

  • August 24, 2026

    Carney government says judicial pay hikes it rejected would cost almost $321 million over 6 years

    A $28,000 lump sum salary boost recommended for Canada’s 1,200 judges last year would have cost Ottawa almost $321 million over six years had the government not rejected the advice from an independent judicial pay commission, the Carney government asserts in defending a novel lawsuit launched by the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association (CSCJA) and the Association of Federal Court Associate Judges.

  • August 24, 2026

    L-1B visa ‘specialized knowledge’ explained: What actually qualifies

    Many employers and professionals assume that the L-1B classification is only for employees who have extremely rare or unique knowledge that very few people in their company possess.

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