Dear Members,
It is an honour for me to welcome you and to serve as your Chair for the 33rd year of the CBA National Immigration Law Section in 2016-17. I am writing to inform you about our plans for the coming year and hopefully to inspire you as a member of our Section! Our members enjoy exclusive access to the CBA National Immigration Law Section listserv, regular updates on immigration law, policy and operations in Canada and prime networking and professional development opportunities.
I joined the National Immigration Law Section as Chair of the Southern Alberta Branch in 2005 and have since been volunteering as an Executive Member and Officer. I have always enjoyed the perspectives, generosity and brilliance of immigration lawyers from across Canada. I have been privileged to work with provincial Branch Chairs and Executive Members at biannual meetings of our Executive Committee. Many have become true friends with whom I enjoy collaborating in our advocacy work, corresponding on our listserv, and meeting at our professional development conference every spring. These friendships make volunteering with the CBA extremely worthwhile.
IMMIGRATION LAW SECTION – ENGAGING SUCCESS
The CBA National Immigration Law Section is consistently recognized as one of the most prolific and successful among CBA Sections. That success comes from the dedication of our volunteers, including our Executive Committee, Coordinators, Honourary Executive Members (Past Chairs), Founders and many members who contribute their ideas and time. Our Officers, Branch Chairs and Executive Members will continue the work of those who have dedicated so much to provide leadership and deliver value to our members. The 2016-17 Executive Committee is already engaged in advocacy, law reform and planning the coming year.
A focus of our Executive Committee for 2016-17 will be engagement. We want to enhance opportunities for our members to be engaged with the CBA National Immigration Law Section and to inspire you to do so. We are working on projects to highlight the work of immigration lawyers and to distinguish our members. We are preparing an Immigration Lawyer Directory to complement the videos we’ve produced on the benefits of hiring an immigration lawyer. We have recently distributed a Twitter infographic to assist members in using social media. We are assessing how to improve our member listserv and we would appreciate your feedback on this. We encourage young lawyers to become involved and want at least one young lawyer on every Submissions Working Group.
We also encourage our Executive Committee to think and act strategically in the areas of law, policy and operation of the Canadian immigration system. Our Executive Committee will be meeting by teleconference in September to discuss the Review of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program; Oversight of the CBSA; Amendments to the Customs Act; Changes to the Citizenship Act; Implementing Changes to the Age of Dependent Children; modifications to Express Entry; In-Canada Asylum Review; and other matters. We will form working groups to develop ideas, documents and communication strategies on key issues in preparation for our November 2016 meetings and beyond.
We look forward to continuing our collaborative meetings with political, policy and operations leaders at IRCC, ESDC, CBSA and the Department of Justice. We appreciate these long-standing relationships and our mutual efforts to improve Canada’s immigration system.
As a fellow member, I invite you to become involved in our Section and to try something new in your experience!
COMMUNICATE
CONTRIBUTE
TOOLS AND RESOURCES
NETWORK
- Save the date: Join us in Toronto for our conference on June 8-10, 2017!
Very best wishes,
Vance Langford
Chair, CBA National Immigration Law Section