Borderlines

Deanna and Steven discuss what we consider to be the top Federal Court immigration decisions of 2024.Cases include Toor v. Canada, 2024 FC 1146 (restoration), Chung v. Canada, 2024 FC 1218 (misrepresentation when a degree is obtained through plagerism), Abdool v. Canada, 2024 FC 1172 (misrepresentation and involuntary cancellations of US entry attempts), and Alohan v. Canada, 2024 FC 1122 (reconsideration requests).

Siavash Shekarian is an immigration lawyer in Toronto, and the Executive Member & Public Affairs Liaison of the Ontario Bar Association.

Deanna and Steven discuss Canada's caregiver programs, including the Live-in Caregiver Program (1992 to 2014), the Caring for Children and Caring for People with High Medical Needs pilots (2014 to 2019), the Interim Pathway for Caregivers (4 March 4 to 8 July 2019), the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots (starting 18 June 2019 - 18 June 2024), and the new proposed program.Topics include whether Canada needs caregiver programs, open work permits, permanent residence right away, caregivers leaving the occupation after getting permanent residence, processing delays and more.

A discussion of the Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers program, a program which provides ppen work permit for vulnerable foreign workers who are victims of abuse. We also discuss access to justice issues. Jonathan Braun and Amanda Aziz are lawyers who work at the Migrant Workers Centre, an organization in Vancouver that promotes and advances access to justice for migrant workers by providing legal services, advocacy, research, public education and engaging in law and policy reform initiatives.Juliana Dalley is a lawyer at the Immigration and Refugee Legal Clinic, the only legal clinic in British Columbia specializing in immigration and refugee maters.

Part 1 of 2 in a historical deep dive of Chinese immigration to Canada. This episode covers the period of 1850 - 1885, and includes an overview of events in China at the time (including the Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion), Chinese migration during the British Columbia gold rush, the merger of the Colony of Vancouver Island and the Colony of British Columbia, numerous British Columbian laws designed to make reduce the number of Chinese in the Province, the building of the Trans Canada Railway, the Royal Commission on Chinese Migration to Canada and the Chinese Head Tax.

Zeynab Ziaie Moayyed is an immigration lawyer in Toronto. She can be found on X at @ZeynabZiaieWe discuss Chinook, AI triage and IRCC's Integrity Trend Analysis Tool.

Petra Molnar is a lawyer and anthropologist specializing in migration and human rights. We discuss her recent book, The Walls Have Eyes Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.Topics include the use of technology at borders, surveillance, the role of the private sector, the border industrial complex, Palantir and other companies, whether countries may withdraw from refugee conventions, ankle monitoring, UNHCR camps, the Belarus-Poland border, and more.

Mikal Skuterud is a Professor at the University of Waterloo. We discuss the impact of immigration on housing prices, foreign workers, lumping Francophone migration objectives under economic immigration, international graduates facing barriers to immigrating and more. Mikal's previous appearance on Borderlines can be downloaded here. The former immigration minister interviews that Mikal mentions include Chris Alexander, John McCallum and Sergio Marchi.