#178 - Constitutional Protections in the Canadian Immigration field

On this episode of the Borderlines podcast, Deanna Okun-Nachoff and guest co-host Zeynab Ziaie Moayyed speak with constitutional law guru Sujit Choudhry. We discuss Choudhry's work on the landmark Bjorkquist case, in which the Ontario Superior Court held that the Canadian Citizenship Act's "second-generation cut-off rule" was unconstitutional. Choudhry also describes his involvement in subsequent proceedings in which Canada has repeatedly failed to comply with court-ordered mandates to correct the non-compliance.

We also delve into test case litigation at the crossroads of immigration and constitutional law. Choudhry describes factors he considers in selecting test cases, techniques for managing participants in a class action, choosing a venue (i.e. why proceed at federal vs. provincial court - ?), and factors that make issues at the nexus of immigration and constitutional law such a hotspot for strategic litigation.

Finally, we discuss Bill C-2 (currently before the House), which proposes fundamental changes to the Canadian immigration scheme (not to mention privacy law, criminal, charitable, anti-terrorism, etc). Our focus is on allegations that the law proposed may not be Charter compliant, which leads to braoder consideration of the government's decision to introduce this legislation in the first place.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.