CBA Influence - Public Policy and Advocacy

Time may be an abstract concept, but it can have harsh real-world implications for people facing forced removal from Canada.

Far from being considered anachronistic, the hundreds-year-old practice of lawyers wearing robes to court is in modern times seen to be a great equalizer, forcing the attention to what lawyers are saying in court rather than what they’re wearing. But the current rules make some more equal than others.

Since then, the CBA has passed resolutions dealing with the law, including one urging the government to amend the Criminal Code to permit advance requests for medical assistance in dying, and has offered its assistance to the Expert Panel established by the government to study next steps.

When a company asks the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions for permission to reduce the benefits offered by its defined-benefit pension plan, there’s a good chance it’s already under a certain amount of stress.

Just like a jet pilot who has a checklist of procedures to carry out when coming in for a landing, would-be immigrants have a process to follow once they’ve received permanent resident status in order to become landed. Unlike the pilot’s procedure, the immigrant’s landing process is “unnecessary and inconvenient,” rarely uncovers new issues of concern and could be replaced by technology.

Canadian regulations allow Immigration and Border officials to remove would-be immigrants as soon as they’ve been declared inadmissible, but the CBA’s Immigration Law Section says they should wait to see whether that declaration is the final word on the matter.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has been trying out a variety of processes to square an intractable circle: more applications for parent and grandparent sponsorship than can reasonably be processed with the Department’s resources.

Since the 2015 federal election, the CBA has made more than 300 submissions to government on topics as diverse as pension regulations, lawyers’ billing practices, what constitutes political activity by charities, laws surrounding temporary foreign workers, and making the Constitution bilingual.

Income tax filings are always fraught with a certain amount of difficulty, so anything that aims to streamline the Canada Revenue Agency’s red tape is welcome.

When the federal government announced an additional $26-million for legal aid funding for refugees and migrants in August, it was responding at least in part to a call from the Immigration Law sections of the CBA and OBA to fill a funding gap in the province of Ontario.