Get involved, have your say and make a difference!

The Section is very active and there are so many great ways to get involved.

Hurry up, submit your award nominations today!

• Last Call for Founders’ Award Nominations (Deadline: January 31, 2021)
  There are only two weeks left to nominate an exceptional law student or junior lawyer for the Founders’ Award. The successful candidate will be recognized at our annual conference in June and they must be willing to prepare a paper of 2,500 – 5,000 words if selected. If you or someone you know should be nominated, please submit your entry no later than January 31.
• Nominate a Distinguished Section Member for the Award of Excellence (Deadline: January 31, 2021)
  The Award of Excellence recognizes a senior member of the Section with a lengthy and distinguished history. It is the highest honour that can be bestowed upon a Section member. Learn more about eligibility and the nomination procedure, and be sure to submit all supporting documentation by the deadline.

CBA Immigration Law Conference

The Section is hard at work planning for this year’s CBA Immigration Law Conference scheduled in Victoria, BC for June 3-5, 2021. Save the date and stay tuned for more information! At this stage we are hoping for an in-person conference but planning for all contingencies.

Highlights from the First Quarter of 2020-2021

Your Executive Committee has been pushing forward the priorities we set at the beginning of this fiscal year, which are:

1. Championing the role of Immigration Lawyers
2. Advocating for improvements in law, policy and operations as the Canadian immigration system recovers from the effects of COVID-19
3. Continuing our collaborative meetings and constructive dialogue with political, policy and operations leaders at IRCC, ESDC, CBSA, the Department of Justice, and now PHAC, as well as our meetings with Members of Parliament and their staff in support of our mutual efforts to modernize Canada’s immigration system.

We have prepared recent submissions on:

• Design of Municipal Nominee Program (July 8, 2020)
• COVID-19 and Changes to the Home Support Worker Pilot (August 5, 2020)
• COVID-19 – Resumption of in-Person Hearings at the Refugee Protection Division (August 14, 2020)
• Potential Amendments to Transfer the Authority to Issue Removal Orders for Select Inadmissibilities to the Minister’s Delegate (September 22, 2020)
• Potential regulatory amendments related to transborder criminal inadmissibility (December 4, 2020)

We would like to thank all the working groups who participated in these submissions for their contributions.

Other updates:

• November was a very busy month for our Section Officers who participated in collaborative and constructive government meetings with the Office of Minister Blair, Office of Minister Mendocino, Office of MP Raquel Dancho, IRCC, ESDC and CBSA.
• The Section has launched its first ever Instagram and Facebook Live Stream on December 18, 2020 about "Travelling over the holidays and advising clients in these tumultuous times" (entry and quarantine requirements simplified). Our first guest speaker, Tamara Mosher-Kuczer (Capelle Kane), was interviewed by Emily Lukaweski, social media coordinator (Instagram/Facebook).

Get Involved

The success of the Section comes from the dedication of our volunteers and Section members; we invite you to engage with the Section:

• Join a working group and contribute to our submissions. When you help with submissions, you help shape policy.
• Join us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and our new Instagram page. Like, share, comment and suggest posts.
• Subscribe to and participate in the CBA Immigration Law Section national listserv. It is an excellent resource and networking tool, and it improves even more with your contributions. You can sign up and edit your receiving email by visiting the listserv enrolment page.
• Submit an article for open access publication.
• Access CBA member resources, including videos on the importance of using an immigration practitioner, and our asylum seekers toolkit that provides relevant information on assisting asylum seekers from the U.S.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions or if you would like to become more involved.

Sincerely,

Mark Holthe
Chair, CBA Immigration Law Section