our firm in the news
24 Jan
Hundreds of nonviolent immigration detainees sent to max-security jails as part of ‘abhorrent’ government program
Canada’s immigration authorities locked up nearly 1,500 nonviolent immigration detainees in maximum-security jails last year, the Toronto Star has found.
8 Mar
Toronto man set to be deported to Nigeria after a 13-year battle
A Toronto man has lost his last-ditch effort to delay his deportation to Nigeria after a 13-year fight that ended Thursday when the Federal Court refused to hear his latest request to suspend the removal.
28 Jun
‘What if we rattle his f—n’ cages?’ Government officials overheard discussing how to cross-examine mentally ill detainee
The conduct of two bureaucrats working for Canada’s border police is under investigation after they were overheard strategizing about how to “rattle” a mentally ill immigration detainee they were about to question at a hearing.
26 Jul
30 Jul
Canada uses DNA and ancestry sites to check migrants’ identity
Border agency says the tools assist its officials in ‘providing indicators of nationality’
31 Jul
6 Aug
Border agents using DNA databases like familytree.com and ancestry.com to ID detainees, track relatives
Canada has been trying to deport Franklin Godwin since 2000 when the former refugee was declared a danger to the public for his lengthy criminal convictions of drug offences and fraud.
31 Aug
Deportations on the back of consumer genetic tests worry scientists
Canada’s border enforcement agency appears to be using genetic tests and DNA ancestry sites to determine country of origin for would-be deportees
9 Nov
Immigration detainee sues feds for $50 million, alleging he suffered a mental breakdown and was given electric shock treatment
A former immigration detainee, jailed for almost five years, two of them in solitary, while border officials fought in court to have him deported, is suing Ottawa for failing to heed doctors’ warnings of his mental illness and provide him with proper care.
18 Aug
Overhaul immigration detention system: Editorial
If you want to understand what’s wrong with Canada’s immigration detention system, consider the case of Ricardo Scotland.
16 Aug
Immigration tribunal to audit long-term detention practices
The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) will conduct what it calls an independent audit of the long-term detention of non-citizens, after two court rulings in the past three weeks found detainees may be denied basic fairness.
15 Aug
Judge slams Canada’s system for detention of asylum seekers
A judge has set free a refugee claimant and called the system for detaining some asylum seekers arbitrary and Kafkaesque
15 Aug
Barbadian freed after detention in immigration centre ‘for no reason’
“Nobody knew why he was detained,” Justice Morgan said, describing Scotland’s imprisonment as oppressive and nightmarish.
14 Aug
Ontario judge frees refugee claimant, calls detention Kafkaesque
A judge has called the legality of Canada’s immigration-detention system into question in a case in which he set free a refugee claimant who had done nothing wrong, yet was detained in a maximum-security prison for 17 months.
14 Aug
Refugee claimant released after being jailed ‘for no real reason at all,’ judge says
Ordering the immediate release of immigration detainee Ricardo Scotland, who has spent the last 10 months in maximum-security jail despite not having any criminal charges or convictions, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan was unequivocal in his condemnation of federal immigration authorities.
14 Aug
01 Aug
01 Feb
14 Jan
16 Dec
After almost six years in jail with no charge, Somali man set for release amid questions about deportation
After precisely five years and seven months in a high-security prison despite facing no charge or sentence, Abdirahmaan Warssama was finally told he could leave, Wednesday morning.
16 Dec
09 Dec
07 Dec
‘I cannot go back to Somalia’: Failed refugee fights to live freely in Canada at detention review
TORONTO — Inside a high-security prison, wearing a bright-orange inmate’s jumpsuit, Abdirahmaan Warssama sat passively with arms crossed for most of his detention review, until suddenly angered with what a Canada Border Services Agency official was saying.
04 Dec
01 Dec
Failed refugee in jail five years for refusing to sign paperwork that would mean removal to Somalia
If Abdirahmaan Warssama signs a piece of paper, he can get out of the high-security prison where he has spent the last five years. But he won’t sign it.