CANADIAN MIGRATION LAW
Law 456H1F Instructor: Prof. Audrey Macklin Office Hours: After class or by appointment Class Time: Tuesday, Thursday, 10h45 – 12h00, Solarium Contact Info: Flavelle 211, 946-7493 e-mail: audrey.macklin@utoronto.ca
Who gets in? As national borders dissolve for trade, capital, communication and culture under globalization, these same borders acquire increasing salience in controlling the flow of people. This course focuses on the Canadian policy and legislation designed to manage and regulate entry, residence and citizenship. The Immigration Refugee Protection Act and Regulations provide the framework for categorizing potential entrants into legal vs. nonlegal, visitors vs. permanent residents, and immigrants vs. refugees. In addition to navigating through the major components of the legislation, the course will examine constitutional aspects of immigration (the role of the provinces and the Charter), the influence of international law and the differential impact of the immigration regime along axes of gender, class ethnicity, 'race' and nationality. The recent passage of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act provides an opportunity to critically assess shifts in immigration policy animated by recent trends, including the rise in undocumented migration, the heightened perception of non-citizens as security threats and economic globalization. Finally, the question 'who gets in?' will be answered in the context of theoretical and normative concerns (who ought to get in?), history (who got in to Canada in the past?), and comparative trends (who gets in elsewhere?). Students will have the opportunity to observe at least one of the following: a refugee hearing, an immigration appeal, or a judicial review before the Federal Court.
SYLLABUS (subject to change)
September 6, 8: September 13, 15: September 20, 22: Sept, 27, 29: October 11, 13: October 18, 20: October 25, 27: Nov. 1,3: Introduction Theoretical Perspectives Status Constitutional, Administrative and International Review Temporary Residents Economic Class Family Class Immigrants Refugees: The International Context
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Nov. 15, 17: Nov. 22, 25: Nov. 29, Dec. 1: Dec. 6, 8: December 2, 4:
The Canadian Interpretation of the Refugee Definition Refugee Definition Cont’d, report back from hearings Sovereignty and Border Control Enforcement Enforcement cont’d
COURSE MATERIALS
Canadian Migration Law and Policy, Cases and Materials (Volumes 1 and 2) Canadian Migration Law and Policy, Statutory Supplement The Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement and the Gender-Based Analysis, and the Immigration Manual. are all available online from the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website (www.cic.gc.ca), under the title “Policy and Regulations”
Updates: Check here for additional material that I will post from time to time.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The course has two main objectives: 1. To impart the core concepts of Canadian immigration and refugee law. These involve: the basic operations of the immigration process; the role of political actors, bureaucrats, lawyers and the courts in that process; the rules, procedures and informal practices that determine the terms of admission of immigrants and refugees. 2. To put the law in context. This context includes the history of immigration to Canada and of Canadian immigration law, the division of powers, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the principles of administrative law, statutory interpretation, domestic and international political pressures, and theoretical perspectives on the moral legitimacy and practical necessity of controlling immigration. I intend to employ a combination of lecture, guest speakers, power-point, handouts, and field trips to cover the material. I expect and look forward to your active participation in classroom discussion. A few minutes will be spent at the beginning of each week reviewing immigration/refugee issues reported in the media. Students will be expected to bring in news clippings or report on stories they heard or saw. Obviously, the viability of the exercise will vary from week to week depending on whether there are relevant stories being reported. The point is 2
to encourage you to relate what we cover in class to what is happening "out there".
EVALUATION
1 (a) Paper (20-25 pages) The course is intended to operate as a forum for critical evaluation of Canadian migration law and policy. You are free to choose any topic in the field that interests you. You are not limited in terms of methodology (historical, theoretical, jurisprudential, comparative, policyoriented, etc.) or geographical scope (national, regional, international), but you must clear the paper topic with me in advance. OR 1 (b) Take-Home Exam
Students can schedule the interval during the exam period when they wish to complete a 48-hour take home exam. PLUS 2. Field Trip Depending on logistical constraints, I will obtain permission for you to observe a refugee hearing before the Convention Refugee Determination Division and/or a proceeding before the Immigration Appeal Division of the IRB and/or a judicial review of an immigration case. I will cancel at least one class in recognition of the time spent observing a hearing. I will provide you with a series of questions to answer based on your observation. These will serve as the basis of a classroom exercise.
INTERNET RESOURCES
The Webpage for this course contains dozens of links to sites dealing with migration. I may assign documents available from these sites from time to time. The links will also be very helpful in researching your paper. I encourage you to bring new websites to our attention for inclusion.
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CANADA
Governmental Canadian Security Intelligence Service Citizenship and Immigration Canada (use this to locate existing and proposed legislation, backgrounders, news releases, the Immigration Manual, IntegrationNet and RefugeeNet) Federal Court of Canada (Trial Division) http://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fct/index.html *Federal Court of Canada (Court of Appeal) http://decisions.fca-caf.gc.ca/fca/index.html Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Immigration Quebec http://www.immigration-quebec.gouv.qc.ca/francais/index.html
Non-governmental Canadian Council for Refugees E-Refugee– Canadian Refugee Resource *Empirical – an online multi-discplinary, multi-part course on Canadian migration, citizenship, settlement, integration and multiculturalism produced in conjunction with the Metropolis project www.empirical.ca/courselist.php Maytree Foundation (research supporting immigrant and refugee settlement and integration) http://www.maytree.com/RefugeeImmigrantProgram/Overview.htm Metropolis – An International Forum for Research and Policy and Migration, Diversity and Changing Cities (Canadian and International) *Peopling North America: Population Movements and Migration (historical project) www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/migrations Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) http://www.ocasi.org/index.asp STATUS (Campaign to Regularize Non-Status Immigrants in Canada) http://www.ocasi.org/status/
INTERNATIONAL / COMPARATIVE
Governmental International Migration and Multicultural Policies (UNESCO) http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en 4
International Organization for Migration *Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants (UNHCHR) http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/b/mmig.htm United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), Documents on Nationality, Statelessness, Asylum and Refugees http://193.194.138.190/html/menu2/i2intnar.htm United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Non-Governmental Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (University of San Diego) http://www.ccisucsd.org/Programs/FML.htm Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (US but also comparative) Center for Migration and Development Centre for Refugee Studies (York University) http://www.yorku.ca/crs/ Comparative Refugee Case Law *Forced Migration Online www.forcedmigration.org Forced Migration Review http://www.fmreview.org/1frames.htm *Global Campaign for the Ratification on the Convention on the Rights of Migrants www.december18.net Global IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) Project *Global Commission on International Migration www.gcim.org/en Guide to International Refugee Law Resources on the Web http://www.llrx.com/features/refugee.htm *Institute for the Study of International Migration www.georgetown.edu/sfs/programs/isim *Institute for the Study of Labour http://www.iza.org International Association for the Study of Forced Migration http://www.unibamberg.de/~ba6ef3/iasfm.htm International Centre for Migration and Health http://www.icmh.ch/ *Human Rights First (formerly Lawyers Committee for Human Rights; US & International) www.humanrightsfirst.ofg 5
*Migrants Rights International www.migrantwatch.org The Protection Project (Anti-Trafficking) *Refugee Law Reader (online cases and materials on int’l refugee law) www.refugeelawreader.org Refugee Studies Centre (Oxford) http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/ University of Minnesota International Human Rights Library (asylum and refugee) http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/asylum/refugee_index.html Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children http://www.womenscommission.org/
REGIONAL/NATIONAL
Asia The Asian Research Center for Migration Australia Australian Refugee Review Tribunal http://www.rrt.gov.au/ Refugee Council of Australia http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/ Europe Centre for European Migration and Ethnic Studies Center for International and European Law on Immigration and Asylum *Center for Migration Law, University of Nijmegan (Netherlands) http://www.jur.kun.nl/rechten/default.asp?vaksectie=Centrum_voor_Migratierecht&taal=en Electronic Immigration Network (UK/Europe) http://www.ein.org.uk/ *Eurasylum www.eurasylum.org (Analysis and evaluation of developments affecting policy and legal decisions in the fields of immigration and border control processes, asylum determination procedures, IDPs and migrant integration schemes in EU and internationally) European Council on Refugees and Exiles European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations (ERCOMER; also has virtual library) *Odysseus Network (Academic Network for legal studies on immigration and asylum in Europe) www.ulb.ac.be/assoc/odysseus/index2.html 6
Refugeenet (Refugee Integration in Europe) http://www.refugeenet.org/ France Les Sans-Papiers (undocumented migrants in France) http://www.bok.net/pajol/ Germany ProAsyl http://hem2.passagen.se/asylum/ovrigt3.html New Zealand New Zealand Refugee Law http://www.refugee.org.nz./ Sweden Swedish Network for Refugee and Asylum Support Groups http://hem2.passagen.se/asylum/ovrigt3.html UK Asylum Rights http://www.asylumrights.net/ US Center for Immigration Studies –CIS provides a terrific clipping service, where they cull media reports on migration from the US and foreign press. You can sign up for this if you wish. The primary function of the Center is to lobby against immigration to the US. Center for Migration Studies *Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center www.fiacfla.org *Migration Policy Institute (includes material on international and US-Canada border issues) Refugee Law Center US Committee for Refugees VIVE la casa (shelter for Canada-bound asylum seekers in Buffalo NY) http://www.vivelacasa.org/
Last revised by Audrey Macklin, 3 September 2005 Disclaimer
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