Podcasts about Canadian Bar Association

Your car insurance is about to get a whole lot more expensive. With no mandate to do so, Alberta's government plans to transition to a no-fault auto insurance system by January 2027. The change aims to shift the focus from litigation to providing care and support for those injured in vehicle collisions, with benefits payable regardless of who is at fault. But here's the thing...nobody believes that's going to happen.  5:30 | We get into the numbers with Nik Nanos from Nanos Research and Jenny McCordie from the Canadian Bar Association.  READ MORE: https://rtrj.info/050925Nanos OUR INTERVIEW w/ PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER MARK McCOURT: https://rtrj.info/112024Insurance 37:00 | Did your car insurance go up this year? Jespo and Johnny's sure did (but Jespo deserved it). We dive into the Real Talk Live Chat powered by Park Power. 51:30 | Real Talkers have a lot to say about our May 8 interview with Premier Danielle Smith.  WATCH THE INTERVIEW: https://rtrj.info/050825Smith TAKE OUR TWITTER POLL on ALBERTA SEPARATION: https://x.com/ryanjespersen/status/1920884060311670853 1:17:20 | HOT TAKE ALERT. Patty's got a years-old axe to grind with Jespo. Real Talkers Blahsheep, Ontario James, Pedro, KP, Jake, Cactus Sheriff, and Darian sound off on Danielle Smith, separation talk, and Liberal voters. It's The Flamethrower presented by the DQs of Northwest Edmonton and Sherwood Park!  FIRE UP YOUR FLAMETHROWER: talk@ryanjespersen.com  When you visit the DQs in Palisades, Namao, Newcastle, Westmount, and Baseline Road, be sure to tell 'em Real Talk sent you!  REGISTER FOR THE REAL TALK GOLF CLASSIC: https://www.ryanjespersen.com/real-ta... FOLLOW US ON TIKTOK, X, INSTAGRAM, and LINKEDIN: @realtalkrj & @ryanjespersen  JOIN US ON FACEBOOK: @ryanjespersen  REAL TALK MERCH: https://ryanjespersen.com/merch RECEIVE EXCLUSIVE PERKS - BECOME A REAL TALK PATRON: patreon.com/ryanjespersen THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! https://ryanjespersen.com/sponsors The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Relay Communications Group Inc. or any affiliates.

When Justin Trudeau announced this week that he'd be resigning as Prime Minister, he also said something else important: that Parliament would be 'prorogued' until the end of March. But what does that mean for the operations of government? Jamie Merrigan is a Corner Brook lawyer who is a former national chair of the Constitutional and Human Rights Section of the Canadian Bar Association. He spoke with the CBC's Leigh Anne Power.

Earlier this year, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced dramatic changes to that province's approach to the healthcare, education, and inclusion of transgender youth.  READ MORE: In Alberta's new war on trans people, children will suffer Since then, queer activists and groups supporting the rights of 2SLGBTQIA folks have come together to challenge and speak out against policies like the ones proposed in Alberta and have done their best to support queer and trans youth across the county.   This week on rabble radio, Jack Layton Journalism for Change fellow Eleanor Wand sits down with Bennett Jensen, the director of legal at Egale Canada to discuss what's at stake under the proposed legislation targeting trans youth in Alberta.  “When there are restrictions on access or information around queer and trans people, that communicates that there is something wrong with being queer or trans.”  About our guest and Egale Canada Bennett Jensen (he/him) is the director of legal at Egale Canada where he develops, leads and directs strategic litigation in furtherance of 2SGLBTQI rights. Jensen began his career as a litigator at a leading law firm in New York City, before becoming the deputy head of the firm's award-winning pro bono practice and leading responses to national rights violations like the Muslim travel ban and the family separation crisis.  Prior to joining Egale, he served as a policy advisor and then as director of litigation to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada where he supported the passage of the criminal ban against conversion “therapy.” He has been recognized as a Rising Star by the American Bar Association, as one of the LGBTQ+ Bar Association's Best 40 Lawyers under 40, and, most recently, with the 2024 Canadian Bar Association's National SAGDA Hero Award. Egale Canada is the country's leading 2SGLBTQI rights organization. Egale's vision is a Canada, and ultimately a world, without homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and all other forms of oppression so that every person can achieve their full potential, free from hatred and bias. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca. 

Host Jared Simmons talks with Tatsuya Nakagawa, Co-Founder and CEO of Castagra Products. Tatsuya offers a unique take: "For me, innovation is value creation towards some sort of goal or aim." This reflection springs from the story of his junior high school decision about whether to alter his name to overcome social barriers, highlighting how innovation is woven into the human experience.------------------------------------------------------------Tatsuya Nakagawa is the Co-Founder and CEO of Castagra Products, a sustainable roof coating manufacturing company. Castagra's Ecodur Roof Coating was voted top "Greenvention" by the reality show Dragons' Den. Over the past 20 years, Tats has launched hundreds of products and services, co-authored the book Overcoming Inventoritis: The Silent Killer of Innovation (forward by Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple), and spoken to a variety of industry groups including: Chartered Accounts of Canada, Canadian Bar Association, The American Chamber of Commerce, and The International Internet Marketing Association. He's also written articles for Fast Company, Construction Today, and Industry Week, and has been quoted on CBS News, Global TV, CBC, The Globe and Mail, and BC Business. Tats is the host of the popular C-Suite Network podcast, Specified Growth Podcast. The podcast features interviews with leaders who have overcome adversity, built massive organizations, and made a positive change in the building materials and coatings industry. He also hosts a LinkedIn Live series, Roofer Reflections, where he interviews roofing professionals about their experiences in the industry.More about our guest:Tatsuya NakagawaCompany: Castagra ProductsBook Co-authored:  Overcoming Inventoritis: The Silent Killer of InnovationTat's Podcast: Specified Growth Podcast------------------------------------------------------------Episode Guide:0:00 - Intro0:42 - What is Innovation?3:14 - Role of Identity in Innovation6:28 - Reducing Friction on Identity11:39 - Importance of Curiosity and Experimentation13:04 - Finding Mentors15:47 - Sports Analogies and Innovation21:37 - Music, Sports, Business, and Performance28:20 - Overcoming Challenges and Learning from Failures33:42 - Reflections on Career and Adaptation--------------------------OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

The Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch announced today that it does not support the Legal Professions Act, newly introduced by the B.C. government.   Guest: Kerry Simmons - Executive Director of the Canadian Bar Association's BC Branch 

Julia welcomes two of Canada's top experts on EDI in the legal workplace: McCarthy-Tetrault's current and former Chief Inclusion Officers, Charlene Theodore and Nikki Gershbain.Before moving to McCarthy-Tetrault, Charlene Thedore worked as in-house council in the education sector and, in 2020, she was the first black person to become President of the OBA. Charlene has also worked for the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination and is a member and former director of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers. In addition to her pioneering work on EDI at McCarthy and starting her own consultancy firm, IDEA Consulting, Nikki Gershbain is a long-time pro bono advocate and family law practitioner and has served as Executive Director of the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto and National Director of Pro Bono Students Canada. In 2021, she received the Canadian Bar Association's LGBTQ Hero Award for her work on trans workplace inclusion. This is an episode full of practical, usable, advice on achieving true equity, diversity, and inclusion, at work and everywhere else. It includes concrete examples of effective and beneficial workplace EDI policies and offers some terrific all-purpose life lessons and memorable, usable, quotes. Charlene, Nikki and Julia discuss everything from the business case for EDI to Elon Musk's twitter beef with Mark Cuban, the need for active leadership on human rights and why trans inclusion matters; how cultural trends and current events in our increasingly polarized political and historical realities impact us at work; that “the truth is always more complex, because none of us is either totally oppressed or completely privileged" (Nikki Gershbain), and that "no one has a monopoly on being wrong" (Charlene Theodore).Nikki Gershbain - IDEA Consulting: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility (ideaconsultinggroup.ca)Charlene Theodore | McCarthy TétraultLaw & Disorder Inc. - Law & Disorder Inc. (murraygottheil.com)As always, please feel free to subscribe and write to us anytime at podcasts@cba.org

Justice Michele Hollins says back in 2005, it was as though she had everything one could ask for in life. She had an incredible and fulfilling career as a lawyer and two wonderful twin daughters. And yet, something wasn't right.   She would eventually fall into a deep depression that hindered her ability to practice law, let alone get out of bed. It was a stage in her life marked by both pain and frustration. And yet it was transformative in that Justice Hollins discovered how vitally important mental health is in a profession that has historically viewed self-care as being at odds with ambition.  In this episode, Justice Hollins reflects on those experiences and why she now advocates for greater awareness about mental health in the legal profession. We also hear her speak more broadly about what it means to think and dream much bigger and why this too is an integral part of wellness and well-being.  We also hear from Toronto-based commercial litigation lawyer Breanna Needham on what she believes will be the next frontier when it comes to improving equity, diversity, and belonging in the legal profession. And Ashala Naidu, a lawyer, entrepreneur and owner of Naidu Legal describes how she is creating a culture of wellness, inclusivity and support  within her own firm.  And in our Letters segment, Beth and Jen sit down with Dr. Judy Jaunzems-Fernuk, Well-being Coordinator in the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan who explains that law is actually a caregiving profession and that it is essential every lawyer pay close attention to self-care, mental health and wellness. Jody Martin, Director of Regulation for the Law Society of Saskatchewan shares what types of resources are available to lawyers in the province who are looking for support.  GUEST BIOS: Justice Michele Hollins  Originally from Saskatchewan, Justice Hollins obtained her B.Sc. from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas in 1987 and then her LL.B. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1992. After clerking to the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench, she worked at McCarthy Tetrault in Calgary, Alberta until 2001, when she joined the firm of Dunphy Best Blocksom LLP. She became a partner there in 2004 and received her Queen's Counsel designation in 2008. Prior to her appointment in 2017, Justice Hollins had a varied civil and commercial litigation practice, with a focus on employment law. She appeared before all levels of Alberta Courts and the Supreme Court of Canada. Michele was involved in the Canadian Bar Association for many years, including serving as the National President in 2014-2015. She received the Louis St. Laurent Award for service to the CBA in 2010 and the Women in Law Leadership Award in 2013. In 2019, she received the CBA Wellness Award for Excellence in recognition of her work to advance mental health in the profession by sharing her own experience with others. Since her appointment to the Court of King's Bench, she has continued to speak and write on issues of mental health in the legal profession and has taught or participated in many substantive legal education conferences, including social media, judgment writing, advocacy and civil and criminal procedure. Michele has adult twin daughters who flew the nest many years ago to make their own nests in Chicago and Los Angeles respectively. There are also a number of baby birds now so they all visit each others' nests regularly! Dr. Judy Jaunzems-Fernuk, RTC, MTC, is the Well-being Coordinator in the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan. She is also a Lecturer and Researcher in the College of Education, bringing over two decades of educational expertise and clinical practice to her endeavours. Judy has a keen interest in the intersections of mental health, leadership, and education. Therapeutic and healing-centred practices are her current focus. Judy believes self-care and personal well-being are essential for strong leadership, especially for those in caregiving professions.  Additional Resources:  Law Society of Saskatchewan Bite Sized CPD Series: https://www.lawsociety.sk.ca/continuing-professional-development/cpd-activities/recorded-versions-shop/bite-size-cpd-series/  Law Society of Saskatchewan recorded wellness sessions: https://www.lawsociety.sk.ca/continuing-professional-development/cpd-activities/recorded-versions-shop/  Co-Editor Bios:  Beth Bilson, KC, PhD has enjoyed a career of teaching, writing, deaning, arbitrating, and community engagement that began at the University of Saskatchewan in 1979, and she has never run out of interesting things to do. Leah Howie, BEng, BSc, LLB, LLM lives in beautiful Saskatoon with her husband, two daughters, two dogs, and two cats. She loves reading, connecting people, travelling, and spending time outside on the prairies, in the mountains, by the river, and in the boreal forest. She enjoys thinking about ways to improve the law in her work in the area of law reform, and teaching and coaching law students as a sessional lecturer for the College of Law. Brea Lowenberger, BA, JD, LLM is a lifelong learner and collaborator who hopes to leave the individuals and communities she interacts with a bit better than she found them. She is passionate about teaching and implementing design strategies that improve access to justice for Saskatchewan residents through her roles as Access to Justice coordinator, director of CREATE Justice, and sessional lecturer for the College of Law. When she isn't working, she enjoys adventures with family and friends, travelling, being active, nature, reading, and creating music and art. Social handles: (@hollinsmichele)  Photo Credit: supplied by Justice Michele Hollins

Navigating the ever-changing landscape of technology and law requires skill, which Tim and Sukhi Alberga discuss in this episode. Sukhi is the founder of Bridging Legal Solutions, a multidisciplinary law practice. They talk about the critical role of governance and public protection when integrating new tech into legal practices, from AI to cybersecurity. They also uncover the power of connections, mentorship, and expert relationships. Sukhi also discusses the recently launched Counselurdocs, which demystifies legal processes and empowers individuals with knowledge and understanding. They share insights for anyone looking to navigate the intricacies of business relationships or seeking inspiration from someone who has effectively transformed the legal industry through technology.    Who is Sukhi Alberga?   Sukhi Dhillon Alberga, the founder of Bridging Legal Solutions (BLS) and Counselurdocs, leads a multidisciplinary law practice fueled by ingenuity. BLS specializes in helping startups, healthcare businesses, medical practices, and health tech companies navigate complex legal terrain. With a team of brilliant and driven professionals, Sukhi's BLS offers tailored legal and business solutions. Their services span business law, health law, accounting, and human resources.    Sukhi's decade of experience at the bar is complemented by her roles as a member of the Legal Futures Subcommittee of the Canadian Bar Association and the Human Resource Committee of the Law Society of New Brunswick. She also chairs the first Atlantic Roundtable with the Canadian Bar Association of New Brunswick. Sukhi thrives on connecting with people, solving problems, and contributing to business growth. Connect with Sukhi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sukhi-dhillon-alberga/  Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bridging-legal-solutions/  Website 1: https://blsmdp.com/  Website 2: https://counselurdocs.com/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bridging-Legal-Solutions-103809662148826  IG: https://www.instagram.com/bridginglegalsolutions/  X: https://twitter.com/BLS_LawMDP    ———— I love connecting with Work at Home RockStars! Reach out on LinkedIn, Instagram, or via email.   Website

This episode is a repost of episode 56. We discuss issues involving the deportation of long term permanent residents for criminality. 5:45 - What are the grounds for deporting a permanent resident for criminality? 13:00 - How does the appeal process work? 17:00 - What are the factors in deportation. 19:00 - An overview of the history of the law involving the deportation of permanent residents. 26:00 - What is the probability of success for a permanent resident in avoiding deportation once proceedings start? 36:00 - Stays of removal 41:00 - Strategies and tips for responding to procedural fairness letters involving removal. Michael Greene, K.C. is an immigration lawyer in Calgary. He served as the National Chair of the Canadian Bar Association's Citizenship & Immigration Section in 2000-2001. He is representing Jaskirat Singh Sidhu in his immigration and deportation matters.

Many professions such as doctors, engineers, and architects are regulated to ensure that people providing services to the public are properly trained and competent to practice. The need for this is clear: you want to ensure people receive good medical care and the buildings and bridges don't fall down. The regulation of lawyers has this objective as well: you want to know that you're getting competent legal advice when you hire a lawyer. Because lawyers are often engaged in work that is in opposition to the wishes of the government it is also important that the regulation of lawyers is independent of the government. If you hire a lawyer to defend a criminal case,  prevent the government from apprehending your children, challenging the validity of a law, or pursue indigenous rights, you do not want the lawyer to be concerned about the professional consequences of acting in opposition to the government's wishes. This independence is under threat in British Columbia as a result of a proposal to "modernize" the Legal Profession Act in such a way that the provincial government would be able to appoint an increased number of the benchers (directors) that govern the Law Society. As discussed on the show, the government's immediate motivations to take greater control include a wish to avoid providing adequate funding for legal aid services by creating a system of paralegals with less training than lawyers to provide legal services for the poor. The issue of adequate legal aid funding has been pursued by the Law Society for many years. BC is the only province in Canada that imposes a special tax on legal services. The tax was introduced by an NDP government in 1992.When the tax was introduced it was done for the express purpose of funding legal aid. Quickly, however, the tax started collecting more money than the government was providing for legal aid and the extra funds were diverted to general revenue. The government now diverts more than half of the funds collected pursuant to the special tax while dramatically underfunding legal aid services. The diversion of tax revenue from legal aid has resulted in various challenges by the Law Society including a vote to censure a past Attorney General. A history of the funding of legal aid in BC, the special tax, and the disproportionate impact the diversion of revenue from the special tax has had on women can be found here. The government proposal has met with opposition from the Canadian Bar Association, the Victoria Bar Association,  the Law Society, and others. As discussed on the show, one of the elected benchers from Victoria, Paul Pearson gave up his position because he works as Crown Counsel and concluded he couldn't effectively oppose the government initiative while also working for the provincial government. His statement outlining the import of what has been proposed can be found here.Follow this link for a transcript of the show and links to the legislation discussed. 

· Cindy helps individuals, family enterprises, business owners and family offices navigate the complexities and opportunities that come with wealth. As an integrated advisor, Cindy draws on over 35 years of legal, fiduciary, trust and governance experience in professional services firms, financial institutions, and family offices. She uses her skills to provide an objective perspective and facilitates understanding of how complex family, business and ownership structures can impact family dynamics and family wealth continuity. · Cindy's education and designations include B.Comm, FCPA*, LL.B., LL.M, TEP, ICD.D. and Family Enterprise Advisor*. To support her expertise in working with families she is an active member of several thought leadership organizations including the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and the Purposeful Planning Institute. As a lifelong learner, Cindy values the importance of ongoing education and supports families in their education journey including in her role as Chief Learning Officer for Tamarind Learning Canada. · Cindy strongly believes in giving back to professional and charitable causes. Throughout her career, Cindy has been actively involved as a national and international speaker, author and committee / board member for a variety of professional organizations including: TEC Canada, STEP, Family Firm Institute, Purposeful Planning Institute, CALU, Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta, the Canadian Bar Association and the Canadian Tax Foundation. She was a member / Chair of the STEP Worldwide Business Families Global Steering Committee from 2018 – 2022. · In 2018 Cindy was awarded “Trusted Advisor of the Year” in the prestigious global STEP Private Clients Awards and she was recently announced as finalist in the 2023 STEP Worldwide Family Business Advisory Practice of the Year category. · Cindy's charitable causes focus on individual and community mental health. She is a former board member for both the Canadian Mental Health Association – Calgary and Alberta. Cindy is also proud to be an alumni of Outward Bound Canada summiting Kilimanjaro in 2012 in support of OBC's Women of Courage program.

Since being called to the Bar in 1992, Hart Kaminker has earned a reputation amongst clients and colleagues as a highly-skilled, compassionate and trusted lawyer. He has extensive experience in all facets of Immigration and Citizenship law with focused knowledge in litigation, the processing of permanent and temporary applications, and reviewing decisions of Immigration tribunals and international visa officers. Hart has represented clients before the Federal Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal and all levels of the Immigration and Refugee Board including the Refugee Protection Division, the Refugee Appeal Division and the Immigration Appeal Division. His expertise also encompasses a wide range of real estate transactions including purchase and sale of properties, refinancing, and commercial subdivisions. Hart is often called upon to speak at events for the Canadian Bar Association and other community organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. He has also served on the Board of Governors at Beth Tikvah Synagogue and the UJA Israel Engagement Committee. Hart is a member on the OBA executive committee. Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/ Website: https://jondwoskin.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/ Email: jon@jondwoskin.com Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big!   Connect with Hart Kaminker : Website: https://www.kaminkerlaw.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaminkerLaw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hart-kaminker-4143b631/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kaminkerlaw

Lawyer Talk with Donovan Francishttps://gooselaw.comProfile of our guest in this episode of The Job Talk Podcast:Donovan H. Francis is Founder and Managing Lawyer at Ontario registered law firm, GOOSELAW™ Immigration, located in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada.Donovan currently helps businesses inside Canada and from around the world bring talent to Canada without dealing with complicated immigration laws. He leads a team of lawyers and immigration support workers dedicated to helping billion-dollar multinational corporations, Canadian and foreign owned startups as well as medium-sized companies seeking work permit support for their foreign employees or wishing to create a Canadian startup for immigration purposes.He leverages his expertise as a Canadian educated lawyer, a go-to marketing and communications professional, and a proud immigrant to Canada, to provide high-quality Canadian immigration services. He leads his team in helping Canadian and foreign employers navigate complex immigration regulations, including those related to international trade agreements such as NAFTA, CETA and GATS. Donovan also provides direction related to various work permit categories, including intra-company transferees and labour market impact assessments and Global Skills Strategy applications.PREVIOUS EXPERIENCEIn the past, he worked as a business immigration lawyer at a global corporate immigration law firm where he advised a diverse portfolio of clients, including global corporations and Fortune 500 companies, as well as small and medium-sized companies.He has also served as head of communications and marketing within a division of global engineering firm, Worley. He provided the company's leadership team with strategic marketing, advertising, and internal communications advice around multiple long and short-term corporate outcomes.QUALIFICATION HIGHLIGHTSDonovan is a member in good standing of the Law Society of Ontario and has been admitted to the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. He is also a member of the Canadian Bar Association and the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers. Under appointment under The Notaries Act, RSO 1990, Donovan is a certified Notary Public & Commissioner.A graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Canada, Donovan holds a Juris Doctor (Law degree) and a master's degree in Communications and Technology from the University of Alberta, Canada. He is also a proud alum of the University of The West Indies (Mona) in Jamaica.BOARD DIRECTORSHIP AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENTDonovan has held positions on several boards and committees and has served in advisory and managerial role for different political campaigns in Alberta and Ontario. He is currently the Director of Human Resources & Legal Affairs at CANCARO (Canadian, Migration & Counter Trafficking in Persons Organization). He has served as Communications Director, CARIWEST Festival (Western Canada's largest Caribbean street festival) as well as on the M.A. in Communications and Technology Advisory Board at the University of Alberta. He also served on the Faculty of Extension Awards Committee also at the University of Alberta.Need More?Check out our Career Crisis Interview Series: https://thejobtalk.com/help

In this episode of the Every Lawyer we discuss restricting the use of NDAs in Canada's legal system.  Joining Julia for this timely discussion are:Jo-Anne Stark is a lawyer and Certified Legal Coach and operates Stark Solutions Legal Coaching and Consulting which offers virtual help to self-represented litigants and training to lawyers who want to offer legal coaching to their own clients; she is the volunteer President of Legal Coaches Association, a non-profit she founded in 2019 to increase access to justice, a role which she has kindly agreed to talk about with us in another upcoming A2J episode of the Every Lawyer; she is also a former Director of Advocacy at CBABC. Julie MacFarlane is a Distinguished University Professor (Emerita) at the University of Windsor. Julie has also held numerous visiting appointments at universities all over the world. Her books include The New Lawyer : How Clients are Transforming the Practice of Law 2nd edition, UBC Press 2017; Islamic Divorce in North America : Choosing a Shari'a Path in a Secular Society (OUP 2012).; and Going Public: a Survivor's Journey from Grief to Action Between the Lines Press, 2020). Julie has received many awards for her work, including the International Academy of Mediators Award of Excellence (2005), the David Mundell Medal for Legal Writing (2016), and one of Canada's 25 Most Influential Lawyers (2017). In 2020 she was named to the Order of Canada. She is co-founder with Zelda Perkins of Can't Buy My Silence, which campaigns for a change in the law on the misuse of Non-Disclosure Agreements. Julie is also an authority on self-represented litigants and hosts a podcast on this topic which we highly recommend, Jumping Off the Ivory Tower. Jumping Off the Ivory Tower with Prof Julie Mac – NSRLP (representingyourselfcanada.com)Ronald A. Pink, K.C. practices in the fields of governance for organizations both public and private, pensions and benefits law, collective bargaining for public and private clients, municipal law, and labour and employment law. An advocate for labour relations, employment standards, and pensions and benefits, Ron has a long history with the Canadian Bar Association. He has served as President of the Nova Scotia Branch, Chair of the National Continuing Legal Education Committee, the first Chair of the International Development Committee and as acting Director of the Canadian Bar Insurance Association.Jennifer Khor is Supervising Lawyer and Project Manager for the Community Legal Assistance Society's SHARP Workplaces Legal Clinic. Jennifer provides legal advice and delivers education and training on workplace sexual harassment. She is also a member of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada's working group on NDA's.

A family journey that spans three generations. This week on Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Bill Sundhu, a human rights & criminal justice lawyer. Bill shares the remarkable story about his parents' arrival in Canada following the partition of India, and how an interview with his mother led to them reconnecting with her sister in Pakistan. Am and Bill also discuss growing up in Williams Lake, Punjabi diaspora, and the lasting legacy of the partition. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/216-bill-sundhu.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/216-bill-sundhu.html Resources: Bill Sundhu: https://bwilliamsundhu.com/ Gurdev Sundhu's story in The Globe and Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article-youtube-connected-gurdev-sundhu-to-a-sister-she-lost-in-the-partition/ Gurdev Sundhu's Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAf2U1Q3I7k Bill on CBC News: https://twitter.com/cbcnewsbc/status/1626424446587133952 Desi Infotainer Interviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN-diDTnjlY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCohg59MqzM Bio: William (Bill) Sundhu is senior attorney and owner of the Law Office of B. William Sundhu independent law practice, specializing in criminal justice, human rights and civil liberties. From 1996 to 2007, Bill was a BC Provincial Court judge. He is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia and the Canadian Bar Association. A respected speaker and commentator on human rights, justice, diversity, equality and international legal issues, Bill has extensive knowledge of the Canadian justice system and international human rights law. He received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee medal in 2002. Bill holds a Masters degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Windsor, and a Bachelor of Arts from UBC. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “A Partition Story — with Bill Sundhu.” Below the Radar, SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, May 30, 2023. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/216-bill-sundhu.html.

Bill Fortier, CTV News; Shachi Kurl, The Angus Reid Institute; Andrew Enns, Léger; Kerry Simmons, Canadian Bar Association's B.C. Branch; Adrienne Boudreau, Sotos LLP; Sabrina Grover, Shakti Strategies; Fred DeLorey, 2021 Conservative National Campaign Manager; Anne McGrath, NDP National Director; Rachel Aiello, CTV News; Susan Delacourt, the Toronto Star; and Greg Weston, Searchlight Strategy Group.

Afton David was born into a military family in Valcartier, Québec. She grew up in typical “army brat” fashion, moving from base to base throughout her younger years. Throughout high school, she played Rugby and wrestled, which carried over to her post-secondary career as a varsity Rugby player at the University of Ottawa. She played provincial Rugby with team Quebec, winning gold at the 2016 Canadian Rugby Championship. During this time, she joined the CAF as a reserve infanteer with the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa and she continued to study, play Rugby and pursue her military training concurrently.  She is a graduate of the University of Ottawa with three degrees: Civil Law (LL.L), Common Law (J.D.), and International Development and Globalization (B.Soc.Sc.). Following her graduation from law school, she was called to the Bar of the Law Society of Ontario in 2018 and she continued to devote her time to pro-bono work and academic writing. She began her legal career in private practice with Kelly Santini LLP, and moved on as in-house Counsel at TekSavvy Solutions Inc., and landed at Thales Canada Defense & Security as in-house Counsel in 2021.  She is the winner of the Mayor of Ottawa's Award for outstanding community engagement (2019), the Canadian Bar Association's Sword & Scale essay competition for her paper on legislative amendments to the Veterans Charter (2017), and is published in the areas of military justice reform (2021), medical assistance in dying (2018) and is mentioned in the Oxford Handbook of the Canadian Constitution (2015). She has deployed domestically three times; 2017 and 2019 on OP LENTUS and 2020 on OP LASER.  In 2019, she participated in her first amateur boxing match as part of Fight for the Cure, Ottawa's only white-collar boxing event, where she raised over $10,000 for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. In 2023, only seven months after giving birth to her son, Afton participated in the “Clash of Cartier”, a charity boxing event involving her military unit, the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa. Afton firmly believes she could not have done any of the things she has done in her life without the unwavering support of her family, and especially her husband, Brett. She currently resides in Renfrew, Ontario, with her husband and eight-month old son. ------------------- Merch: ⁠https://shoot-like-a-girl-podcast.square.site⁠ Instagram: ⁠@shootlikeagirlpodcast⁠ Contact: shootlikeagirlpodcast@gmail.com

In this EP I read from an interview I did with Halldor Bjarnasion.  Halldor was born with Cerebral Palsy and despite his disability, has carved quite a career and life for himself. I wanted to tell his story, and we both agreed that his speech would be to challenge for the listener.  So in this episode, I endeavor to represent his voice and bring you through a small part of the life of an incredible human.  After graduating from high school Halldor attended university in Winnipeg where he earned an honors degree in political science. He then attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario where he received his Bachelor of Laws degree. After graduating from Queen's in 1989 he again faced some challenges in finding a firm that would allow him to article, but finally managed to do so with an established firm in Toronto's Bay Street area. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1991 and then moved to Vancouver where he was called to the Bar in 1993.During all of these years, Halldor was also involved in sports. His accomplishments are many, leading to 2 medals in the 1988 Paralympic Games in Seoul, gold in the 1500 M, and silver in the 3000 m trike events. After many more competitions, he again competed at the Paralympic Games in 1992 in Barcelona. He was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame for his achievements in Seoul and served on the CPISRA Athletes Commission for 4 years. He was a member of the CCPSA Constitutional Committee from 1987 – 1989. Halldor is also the recipient of many other awards: the Governor Generals Medal, the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award, and a community service award from the BC branch of the Canadian Bar Association.Over the years Halldor has been involved in many organizations: the Law Society of BC's Disability Advisory Committee, the Law Society of BC's Equity and Diversity Committee, the BC Sports Medicine Council, the Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network, and the Neil Squire Foundation, just to name a few. Halldor has also been an educator, teaching at UBC, West Coast School of Massage, and Langara College. He is a successful publisher, having written a book with co-author Lynda Cannell. He has also written a second book on the history of the Winnipeg Fire Dept, proving that his dreams as a little boy are still lurking somewhere in the back of his mind!Since 2003 Halldor has been working for the Vancouver firm Access Law Group. He is an inspiration not only to his co-workers but his clients and all who have had the pleasure of meeting and dealing with him. His sense of humor is infectious, and he has a smile you don't easily forget. I hope you enjoy this podcast, I know I enjoyed telling his story.If you liked this EP, please take the time to rate and comment, share with a friend, and connect with us on social channels IG @Kingopain, TW @BuiltbyScott, LI+FB Scott Livingston. All things LYM at www.LYMLab.com, download your free Life Lab Starter Kit today and get busy living https://lymlab.com/free-lym-lab-starter/

In the latest episode of the podcast, Chris and Bree sit down with Professor Nathalie Cadieux, Ph.D. with the University of Montreal, a specialist on the mental health of professionals in a regulated profession, to learn more about her national research project on the mental health of Canadian lawyers. Transcript:  Chris Newbold: Hello, wellbeing friends and welcome to the Path to Wellbeing and Law Podcast, an initiative of the Institute for Wellbeing In Law. My name is Chris Newbold, I'm executive vice president of ALPS Malpractice Insurance. And we're excited to kick off our 2023 menu of speakers. And as most of you know, our goal here on the podcast has always been to introduce you to thought leaders doing meaningful work in the wellbeing space and within the legal profession. And in the process build and nurture a network of wellbeing advocates intent on creating a culture shift within the profession. And I have, am always excited to introduce my co-host, Bree Buchanan. Bree, how are you doing? Bree Buchanan: I'm doing great, Chris. And I will just say even better that now I am immediate past president of I-Well presently. Chris Newbold: Kind of exciting news for us on the institute front that after two really incredible launch years for the Institute for Wellbeing and Law, Bree Buchanan was our president and in many respects also our executive director. And she was the one who steered us to just an incredible launch of the organization. And I know on behalf of our board of directors, Bree, a heartfelt thank you for that commitment. You're not going anywhere and I know that you're going to be actively engaged as we continue to move ourselves forward. But again, it's been a real honor watching Bree lead this movement in the United States. And I know again, her contributions, there are many on the horizon sure to come. Bree Buchanan: Thank you, Chris. That's so kind. Chris Newbold: Yeah. Bree Buchanan: It was a pleasure. Chris Newbold: And so the other part of that is then who did the baton go to? And, Bree, do you want to drop that news? Bree Buchanan: Absolutely. And so I looking at who would be the best person. We brought along, I reached out to Chris and he was gracious enough to agree to take the baton from me. And so I've gladly passed that on. And Chris is just the right person, the right leader at this time as we really start to develop a long-term vision. And that's something. He is a visionary and that's something that he's really great at doing. So after two years it was time to have a switch of leadership. And so Chris has stepped into that place, my podcast co-host. And I'm really excited about what the future holds. Chris Newbold: And again, it's an exciting time for us. Bree was really visionary in getting all of our leaders together back in August to kind of launch a strategic plan for us. And, Bree, I think it's safe to say that the pillars that we created in terms of the areas that we wanted to focus our work. And just want to take a quick minute to ensure that all of our wellbeing advocates are aware of where that's going. We've done such a great job I think on the raising of education and awareness around wellbeing. In fact, this is a perfect time to make a plug for our upcoming Wellbeing in Law Week, which is set for May 1st through the 5th this year. Again, contact us at I-Well, if you're interested in plugging into what will be just a fantastic menu of activities going on each day during that week. So education and awareness. I know, Bree, you've been very vocal about our need to continue to be a strong voice, particularly when we think about systemic opportunities for change in favor of wellbeing. And so we're looking at amplifying our advocacy voice. We're definitely also looking at on our strategic plan, the ability, which is the focal point of our podcast today. Which is elevating our research and the data accumulation to understand where the opportunities are, how we outline our priorities, and where we go next? So we'll obviously spend a lot of time on this podcast talking about research. And then the last part that I think is noteworthy is I-Well's opportunity to be a facilitator of dialogue amongst stakeholders. And whether that's wellbeing directors at large law firms, whether it's solo practitioners, regulators, professional liability carriers. There's a real opportunity for I-Well to bring these stakeholder groups together to advance action oriented plans to continue to move toward our ultimate mission of the culture shift. So again, really excited about the future of where I-Well is and where we're going today. But let's turn to the podcast today. And again, I've previewed it a little bit. That I'm really thrilled today to kind of broaden our scope a little bit and actually look beyond the US border. And we're really excited to welcome professor Nathalie Cadieux, who's an associate professor and researcher with the Sherbrooke University's Business School. Bree, I'd love it if you could, I know that you've met Nathalie before and talk about groundbreaking research related to the Canadian legal profession. We're really excited about the conversation that's on tap for today. Bree Buchanan: Absolutely. And so yeah, I had the pleasure of meeting Nathalie at a conference in Canada a few years ago. And it really, what it seems, it's a Federation of Law Society's Conference, which is the bar there is organized a little bit differently than the United States. But we all came together, this was a focus on regulators. And out of that conference there were so many ideas around wellbeing for lawyers and it truly became an incubator for great ideas. And so it is so exciting to be able to report and bring Nathalie in to talk about what all has transpired and has come out of that one conference. And then just the beauty of being able to bring together passionate advocates and the law and see what can come from that. So just a little bit more about Nathalie. She is been leading a national research project and is the principal investigator on mental. Then this project is around the mental health of Canadian lawyers. And the project, the research was conducted on 7300 lawyers, which is a really great population group to get data from. And it's a two phase project and have completed the first phase and published that report and recommendations. And we're going to hear some more about that from Nathalie. So we are thrilled to bring Nathalie Cadieux to you, to our listeners. And Nathalie, one of the things that we always start off with is just to learn a little bit about the background of our speakers, our guests, to find out what has drawn you to this area. So how did you become interested in researching the legal community? Because you're not a lawyer but an academic and a researcher. And what makes you so passionate about this work? Nathalie Cadieux: In fact, Bree, it was at the intersection of several events that led me to become involved in the topic of mental health among lawyers and later among other legal professionals. Not many people notice, but I will tell you a confidence, Bree, I was in law school myself when I started my university and I left after only a few days. And I have to admit that it was really difficult. And I have to admit that the culture particularly and the pressure to perform and the competitiveness between the student, for example, killed my career intention at the end. And nevertheless, it was just a coincidence that I became interested in the mental health of legal professionals, because after leaving law school I began studying in industrial relations, particularly related to my interest in the labor law. And then I did a master's degree in professional ethics and I realized that professionals in a regulated profession, are subject to particular stressors on a daily basis. Such as decision making in complex situations, professional accountability, ethics, and ethical pressure. So I therefore did the PhD thesis to better understand these stressors. And my thesis demonstrated that the models, the stressors that we included to understand occupational stress or wellness in the knowledge-based economy, do not capture the complexity of the professional realities of regulated professionals specifically. So once my PhD was completed, I was determined to go back to the real world and to better understand. And as I began my career as an academic researcher in 2013, I observed a very significant increase in request to the Quebec Bar Member Assistance Program. And I therefore concluded a partnership with the Bar of Quebec to understand why, and later with the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and the Canadian Bar Association. So in short, to answer your question, these last 10 years I've been invested in the Legal community and there are so many challenges. So I could never think of being interested in another profession. So it's a coincidence that I went through a law school, but you can understand that today with the benefit of this perspective, it helps- Bree Buchanan: Absolutely. Nathalie Cadieux: Me to make sense of this trajectory and to be sensitive to the challenges that professional face from the moment they enter law school. Chris Newbold: Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, today obviously we're talking about the first comprehensive research on mental health in the Canadian legal profession. Nathalie, tell us about how we got there. Who commissioned the wellness study? What led to it being a priority? We're just always kind of interested in the kind of how did you get to the point of idea to publication? Nathalie Cadieux: The following first study conducted between 2014 and 2019 in Quebec, in the province in Canada, in which more than 2700 Quebec lawyers participated. We were able to establish that a significant proportion of lawyers experience psychological distress and many are also exposed to professional burnout. And we developed a data collection tool that included the several stressors specific to the practice of law, such as pressure related to billable hours for example. And I was then invited, as Bree explained before, by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada in October 2019, to present these results to Hall Canadian Law Societies. And it was the first study of its kind in Canada. And this presentation was used after to initiate further discussions with the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, but also with the Canadian Bar Association, to conduct a Canada-wide study involving all societies for this project in two phases. The first phase was founded by these partners. And the phase two of which has just begun is founded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Bree Buchanan: Great. Digging into a little of the details about the survey. Who did you include in that? Which I think is interesting for Americans. How many joined in? And why did you feel it was so important to include these different groups beyond just a lawyer? Nathalie Cadieux: Yes, as you explained before, more than 7300 legal professionals, mostly lawyers, participated in the first phase, which was published in November 2022. But our sample also included young professionals in articling, paralegals, it's paralegals in Ontario and notaries in Quebec. And even though there are fewer of them compared to the lawyers, we choose to include these different groups for two reason. The first because daily life in many legal environments is difficult and not only for lawyers. And we want to reflect this reality and be as inclusive as possible. And second, because we also want to understand the dynamics sometimes common, but sometimes slightly different, that may exist within each of these groups. And finally, articling students are our future lawyers and we felt it was very important to include them in order to evaluate different mental health indicators in this population. But also to understand the determinant of mental health. And these young people are the future of the provision and is therefore essential to pay attention to them now in order to prioritize action. Bree Buchanan: Absolutely. And, Nathalie, just for our listeners, could you tell us Americans, what is an articling student? Nathalie Cadieux: It's the last moment before the entry in the profession. You have, it's the last part of the training, the academic training at the end of your university. When you entry in the law society, you have a period when during this period, you are supervised by another lawyer. Like mentoring, but it's not a mentoring, it's a condition to entry in the profession. Bree Buchanan: Great, thanks for that. Chris Newbold: Nathalie, you measured rates of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, burnout, and suicidal ideation. What was most concerning about your findings? Nathalie Cadieux: You know all health indicator are very high, but we anticipated this before to start. Prior to the pandemic, Chris, indicators related to mental health among legal professionals were of concern. In the 2019 study that we made in the province of Quebec, the indicators related to mental health were already higher than in the general population. Around 40% of psychological distress, for example, compared to 25% in the working populations. So not surprisingly, the indicators that we measured in the last study are not only high, but they are even higher than in the general population. So a majority now of legal professionals are experiencing psychological distress with a proportion of 59.4%. So it's more than 10 to 20% of the estimates made in the Canadian workforce during the same period. And I think across the different indicators that we measured over, I think that we have many concern about the percentage of legal professionals who experienced suicidal thoughts since the beginning of their professional practice. It's just over 24% and it's a high proportion compared with the general population. Because when we compare with physician, for example, for the same question for Canadian physicians, it's around 19%. So it's very high. And beyond the health indicators, and while health issues are very important enough concern for sure, I believe it's also important to highlight other consequences that sometimes arise from these wellness issues, namely commitment to the profession and the intention to leave it. The work of professionals is a fulfilling environments and wellness issues can challenge future career paths. For example, more than half of respondent consider that they could stop practicing law and take another job at the same pay level at the moment of the data collection. And less than a half of participants said that they look forward to starting a day's work. More than one out of four of legal professionals frequently dream of working in another profession. And one out of three with less than 10 years of experience, regret having chosen their profession. Bree Buchanan: Oh, my. Nathalie Cadieux: I think it's very important to highlight this kind of collateral damage following wellness issues. Bree Buchanan: Absolutely. And I just want to tell our listeners, we will provide you, or are providing you a link to the study. It's a beautiful document with lots of graphics and so an easy and helpful read, so that you'll have a link to all of that. I wanted to just dig a little bit deeper on another topic, Nathalie, which is around help. What we talk about in the United States is help seeking. The willingness of somebody who's experiencing one of these problems to actually reach out and get some professional help for it. And in really the foundational research for the wellbeing movement in the United States, it was very clear from the answers that both lawyers and law students were extremely reluctant, unwilling to seek help for psychological issues that they were experiencing. A lot of it around the role of stigma. But what are you seeing or what did you see with Canadian lawyers and students here? Or the entire population that you researched? Nathalie Cadieux: It's a very good question, Bree, and a relevant questions because it's one thing to live some or some experienced psychological distress, but if the professional don't seek help, it can can lead to worst problematic. Like depressive sometimes anxiety problem and the use of the lead to coping, negative coping strategies for example. And while a large proportion of legal professionals in Canada have sought health help in the past, many other have been not able to do so. When we ask, "Have you ever felt the need to seek professional help for psychological health problems but now don't?" So almost half of professionals who provided an answer on this question stated they did not seek help despite needing. This is especially important because of this percentage, two out of three of professionals experience suicidal ideation during their practice. And why? Many we ask different question related to the confidence in the assistance program linked to their law society. Confidence related to the assistance program of their organization. But we ask people why? Despite this confidence or beyond the confidence that you have in your assistance program, why? And many responded, said it will pass. Other did not have the energy to engage in such a process. Lacked the time, the financial resources. Some professionals were unsure, yes, whether professional help was appropriate. And we can excluded that seeking or not seeking help may also be the result of a sense of stigma associated with mental health issues and sometimes limits professionals from seeking help. And in this study specifically on this subject, we measured personal stigma and we develop a scale about the personal stigma and the perceived stigma. So we asked many questions to the professional, related to their perception about professionals in their profession with mental health issues. And we asked after the same question, what do you think that people in your profession think about that? The same question. And what do you think the gap is, Bree? The gap is just over 40%. That's a huge gap. This gap is related to the fact that few professionals have a negative perception of professionals or colleague who experienced mental health issues during their practice. But many perceive that people in their profession have a negative perception of mental health issues. And there is a significant gap, not support by real and measurable facts, but it does create a significant barriers to seeking help. And I think that we have to discuss about wellness, we have to discuss about wellbeing in the profession. And I think we have again, a lack of communication about health. And I think this stigma, yes, is feed by professional culture. But also on individual beliefs fueled by a lack of collective communication related to wellness. So I think we have to talk about it in whole settings and raise a awareness to break down taboos. Chris Newbold: Yeah, it's fascinating. I think one of the things that, I don't think it's a surprise to me, but it's interesting how much to the research that you've done with respect to the Canadian legal profession, really in fact mirrors the US legal profession, right? And when you hear the things about, again, the stress, the depression, the regret of going into the legal profession in the first place. You just hear some of the same themes, which again kind of moves us to the question of why is that? And what was expected? What the realities are? What's driving the realities? And I think it's just very interesting that two countries, two different legal systems, so to speak, same profession, same realities when it comes to the challenges of wellbeing. Let's do this, let's take a quick break, hear from one of our sponsors. And want to delve in even further to some of the other I think key findings from your really impressive research of legal professionals in Canada. We'll be right back. Speaker 4: Meet Vera, your firm's virtual ethics risk assessment guide. Developed by ALPS, Vera's purpose is to help you uncover risk management blind spots, from client intake to calendaring to cybersecurity and more. Vera: I require only your honest input to my short series of questions. I will offer you a summary of recommendations to provide course corrections if needed and to keep your firm on the right path. Speaker 4: Generous and discreet, Vera is a free and anonymous risk management guide from ALPS to help firms like yours be their best. Visit Vera at ALPS Insurance.com forward slash Vera. Chris Newbold: Welcome back and we are really honored today to be talking to Professor Nathalie Cadieux, who was at really at the forefront of the first comprehensive national study of its kind in Canada when it comes to wellbeing. Again, Nathalie, thank you so much for joining us. You researched the factors also in your study that impacted wellbeing, both work and non work-related. And I'm just curious of kind of what you found in terms of the things that are additive to wellbeing and also corrosive and detracting from a legal professional's wellbeing. What were some of your findings when you looked at the research kind of underneath the surface? Nathalie Cadieux: It's a very important questions and we measured in this study more than 100 risk and productive factors. Including different individuals, social, and organizational, and professionals factors. And regarding risk and protective factors for wellbeing in the organizational sphere, it is important when phases, that the results indicate that risk factors have a prep on their own weight on health. And this means that actions aim at adding resources, will often have a limited or insignificant effects on health. Conversely, any action aimed at acting on risk factors will have a very important effect. Among the risk factor, emotional demands are the most important risk factor for sure. And a majority of lawyers are confronted with these demands and they are not like any other's demands. They have a short term effects but also longer term effects. Among the effects, we include a part in the report about the competition fatigue and vicarious trauma for experience many professionals. We also identify consultative overload, work and security, and hour work that are the main stressors in the working condition. The result also indicate that professionals who have billable hour targets to meet, that are more likely to experience mental health issues. And this is related to the pressure felt by many professionals to meet billing targets. But also to the fact that billable hours represent an average of actual hour work in the sample, and the percentage is around 62%. So it's just 62% of your overall hour work in a week. And if the risk factor are not surprised, we founded many interaction between some of these risk factors which contribute to generate explosive cocktails for practitioners. For example, related specifically to billable hours, professionals who have a billable hour targets within the first two years of practice are particularly at risk. And professionals who are exposed to high emotional demands and have a billable hours target to meet, are also particularly at risk. So it's the risk that we identify. And among the protective factors, because I think despite the impact is the impact of protective factor is less than when we compare with the risk factor. I think it's important to talk about these protective factors in combination to the diminish the reduction of risk factor. We founded that case skills like assertiveness for example. It's the ability to set limit and say no. And psychological detachment are particularly relevant to protect wellness in law. And we also found that autonomy, consistency of values, career opportunities, tele-work or the adaptation to tele-work, and the support from colleagues, are among the main important factors to protect the wellbeing of lawyers. Bree Buchanan: And I was just interested in hearing how much that, as sort of rhymes with what's going on in the United States in regards particularly to younger lawyers and what the research found here too. About them being so disproportionately impacted in the early years of the practice. And making that a focal point really for all of us in providing resources and solutions in this. Another thing on I-Well, the institute had made a point of highlighting how lawyers and legal professionals of varying race, ethnicity, gender, and identification as LBGTQ, may be impacted more dramatically than the historical figures that we've had in the legal profession and leadership of that. How did that play out in Canada? What did you find in regards to those different groups? Nathalie Cadieux: Beyond the health indicators which are higher for these professional, we also found that these professionals are particularly impacted by discrimination in the practice of law. And on this point, we included in the study, many questions related to the live. It's the experience stigma, but it's the concept of discrimination in the practice of law. So it include 10 or 11 questions like I have been discriminated against at work. We ask the question at work because I identify as LGBTQIA2S+, or because I'm indigenous, or because I live with a disability. And after we ask 11 question, I have been discriminated against, I have been ignored or taken less seriously. I have been given fewer career opportunities, for example. So we include this kind of questions. And you will be surprised. And I asked many question in my team about it and we found the answer why LGBTQIA2S+ community felt less discriminate. I was really surprised of this result. And I found why it's because close than a half of professionals who identify as LGBTQIA2S+, as a member of LGBTQIA2S+ community, don't discuss about it in their workplace. So this is the reason why. People don't know in their organization so they don't feel discriminated related to this. But I think it raised the importance of this because when you come back of your weekend for example, and you discuss about your weekend with your colleague. And you are not able to discuss that, "I was with my husband to go skiing," for example, because you don't share any information about your personal life in your workplace. I think it's an issue because we pass more time with our colleagues in the week compared to our family. So I think it's very important. And not surprising, the main group, the higher proportions of discrimination are observed among women, again today in 2023. And among professionals with a disability. It was an area of concern too. Chris Newbold: Now your research group, one of the things I love about when folks engage in research is not just the identification of the data but also the endeavor to identify solutions. What were some of the most impactful recommendations that you believe were made as a result of the research and in the report? Nathalie Cadieux: We made 10 main recommendations at the end of this report. These recommendations are in core in the data that we obtain in this project. And the first one is to improve preparation of future professionals and provide them support to deal with psychological health issues. And it means insure for example, a balance between theory and practice in university or in college curriculum. But also to include critical transverse skills in the education of legal professionals. That will benefit them throughout their professional life. Like time management for example, or emotion management. And promote also a healthy lifestyles to increase awareness about mental health issues. But beyond the preparation of future professionals, we also suggest to improve supports and guidance available at the entry in the profession. And I think it will means for law society to evaluate the possibility to create a professional integration plan in the first or two first years of practice. Promote also mentoring for those entering in the profession. And for organization, it will mean remove billable hour targets for professionals in their first two years of practice. Just to give the chance for the young practitioners to develop the case skills they need to be well in their profession after. We also develop a recommendation around the importance to improve the continuing professional development offered to legal professionals. Because we've seen that we don't have at this point, an evolving vision of professional development needs throughout one's career. And I think it's very important to develop this kind of evolving vision, but also to better structure mandatory trainings' hour for professional and develop a training aligned with risk factors. Because in many profession, stress decrease and psychological distress decrease when you have a higher, better experience, and when you progress in your career. But it's not always the case for legal practitioners and for lawyers. And why? It's because it's the overlap of stressors and the stability of some stressors throughout the career too. So I think that we have to work on this to improve the professional developments. We also suggest we are relevant to evaluate the implementation of alternative work organization models. Because when I give conference everywhere, I exchange with professional. And I like this kind of moment to when I'm able to exchange informally. And I said, "Why some engineer, for example, engineer work with billable hours? But they are not stressed related to billable hours." When you exchange with engineer, you don't talk about their billable hours. It's not an area of concern. But why? Why when I discuss with the lawyers, it's always a subject of discussions and we discuss about the stress about it. The reason is the stricter of work organizations. Because engineer work by project. And lawyers will have the responsibility of a case and he will work alone on their case. So he will be alone to manage the emotional demand related to their case. And he will also alone to manage the risk associate to the time that he will be involved in their case. And the billable hours and the expectation related to billable hours. But if we share the responsibility in a team and work in team in a case, I'm sure that we will limit the impact of billable hours. So I suggest to revise the organization of work. And I think it will be a very important recommendation in the future to implement in some organization. And we'll have for sure to work on the distinct messaging, mental health issues in the legal provisions, and implement some action related to this. Improve the access to health and wellness support resources and breakdown barriers that limit access to these resource. For example, by promote the use of available resources and increase the willingness of professionals to seek help. But also too, we will have to work on the perception of confidentiality, to increase trust in the Law Societies' Lawyer Member Assistance Program. For example, I suggest to remove any question related to wellness in the form when you make your application to the Law Society. To remove the fees on your professional fees when you, for your license, remove all fees on your bills related to the Law Society Assistance Program. Because I think that if I see this on my bills for sure, it suggests a proximity between the assistance program and the Law Society. And for sure, work on the promotion of diversity. Considered the health of legal professionals as an integral part of the justice systems. I don't know if you have the same issues in United States, but in Canada, the access of justice is a very important subject. And the pressure on the system justice have an impact of wellness issues in the profession. Bree Buchanan: And it's interesting to see that in the United States there's studies done about lawyers and showing that we are the loneliest profession of all the professions out there. And having worked for years with the Lawyer's Assistance Program, I was really able to see the detrimental effect that isolation has. Isolation, working on your own for a long period of time is really a breeding ground for depression and substance abuse, et cetera. So that really resonated with me. What lessons should the American legal community learn from your research? And are there ways you'd like to see us work together? Nathalie Cadieux: For the first part of your question, Bree, I think we have three things are important. The first thing that should be learned from this research is the demonstration of the complexity of mental health in the legal practice. The direct consequence of this complexity is the multidimensional nature of risk and productive factors. The second thing of this research demonstrated is the dominance of risk factors compared to protective factors. The first reaction when we are managers, or as professional association, is to invest in resources. For example in the assistance program, access to psychologists in organization. A better pay, more flexible hours. And this is normal because it's much easier to do. However, the very marginal weight of these resources compared to the risk factor, highlights that the only way to achieve a sustainable and healthier practice of law is to act on the risk factor. Work overload, number of hour worked, technical stress, the feeling and invasion of technology, work organization, emotional demands. I recently explained this to the Law Societies in Canada and I using the metaphor of a float. Imagine you are in your basement and your basement is full of water and a huge wave is coming near your house. If I give you a cup, it will certainly help you, but it won't stop the water from rising. The cup here is the assistance program and the wave is the major stressors that influence the lawyer's daily life. The water in the basement is the cumulative stress from years of practice. So I think we need to keep this metaphor in mind when we take action to avoid acting on the symptoms rather than the causes. And finally, the third thing that this research has highlighted are explosive cocktails for the practice of law when we observed an overlap of some stressors. Intense emotional demands and high expectations in term of billable hours. High emotional demands and high workload. These cocktails must be considered from an intervention perspective in order to limit as much as possible the combination of stressors that have a significant weight in the balance of wellbeing. And regarding the second part of your question, I certainly dreamed that the significant progress made in this study could allow us to work together. Who knows, maybe by conducting this kind of survey in the US but to compare us. But also maybe working together to develop, for example, a wellness index in the practice of law. An index for which the evolution could be evaluated through a longitudinal survey every three or five years. I think it's important to measure us and to follow the evolution of wellness. To be proud of the action that we made and we move forward. And to evaluate this progression and the better wellness in the proposition, for sure. Chris Newbold: Nathalie, as we conclude, let's spend a quick minute just looking forward. If we were to have you on the podcast 10 years from now, how would you hope the legal profession in Canada is different? And what needs to happen to get us there? Nathalie Cadieux: It's a good question. In 10 years, first I hope it will be easier for professionals to talk about mental health and also more automatic to seek help. I hope that talking about mental health over the years will have significantly reduced the sense of stigma for those experiencing mental health issues. I hope a more inclusive and diverse practice of law. And finally, I hope that we will better protect the younger lawyers. First by better preparing them for what is coming down, but also by taking care of them when they come into the profession, by reminding us that they are the future of this profession. And at the end, none of this result are the result of a single action or a single stakeholder. It's the result of a dynamic within the legal profession in Canada, but also elsewhere in the world. And we have, if everybody taking action and small action, I'm sure that it will be better. Bree Buchanan: Well, Nathalie, thank you so much for being here and joining us today. It was such a pleasure to meet you in Canada. And I am thrilled to see the amazing work that has come in Canada since that time. And I'll just say I hope we can find ways to work together because clearly there are so many similarities between our two countries and the profession. And so I want to thank you very much. And to our listeners, thanks for joining us today. Thanks to Chris for my co-host. And we will be back to you very soon with additional podcasts to help you and us find a better way towards wellbeing in the law. Thanks to everyone. Chris Newbold: Thanks, Nathalie. Nathalie Cadieux: Thank you so much. Take care of you, Chris and Bree. Chris Newbold: Thank you.  

In this episode, Galen talks with Tetsuya Nakagawa, CEO and Co-Founder of Castagra Products, who discusses his entrepreneurial journey and how Castagra Products came to be. They initially won a competition by Dragon's Den, and though the product wasn't initially meant for roofing, they eventually moved in that direction after winning a stadium project contract over 42 other companies. Tats emphasizes the importance of problem-solving and evaluating situations to determine the best course of action for customers. He believes that innovation is always temporary and continues to look for ways to improve their products and make things slightly better for everyone. When it comes to scaling a business, Tats suggests addressing three key areas: Demand generation, operations, and mitigating weaknesses. The key to success is to constantly learn, adapt, and evolve. Who's The Guest? Co-Founder and CEO of Castagra Products, a manufacturer of sustainable roof coatings, is Tatsuya Nakagawa. Numerous renowned businesses like General Mills, Tyson Foods, the NFL, MLB, and McDonald's, use the Ecodur roof coating from Castagra. The reality television program Dragons' Den selected Ecodur as the best "Greenvention." Tats has launched hundreds of goods and services over the past 20 years, co-authored a book titled Overcoming Inventoritis: The Silent Killer of Innovation (forward by Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder of Apple), and delivered speeches to a range of professional organizations, including the Canadian Bar Association, the American Chamber of Commerce, and the International Internet Marketing Association. He's also written articles for Fast Company, Construction Today, and Industry Week, and has been quoted on CBS News, Global TV, The Globe and Mail, and BC Business. Highlights Castagra's sustainable roof coating was born from a previous invention by Peter, who worked with Tats in the past. They saw the potential and decided to relaunch the product Castagra targeted tough customers, such as multinational corporations, to prove their product's worth. The strategy worked, and they were able to win contracts against 42 other competing companies Tats believes that in order to lead in the construction materials industry, one must be fearless in introducing new products and ideas The biggest competition for innovation is often the resistance to change or the cost of switching from current practices Incremental innovation is easier to implement, but major innovations require understanding and quantifying the value for customers To be successful in business, it's important to understand the customer's problems and their customers' dynamics Failure is inevitable, but it's important to learn from it and not be too arrogant Successful entrepreneurs know themselves well and understand the trade-offs at each phase of business To scale a business, it's important to address demand generation, operations, and weaknesses Entrepreneurship exposes weaknesses, but it's a great way to figure out what you need to work on and explore your potential The goal of leveling up is to explore the edges of what you're capable of and make a positive impact Episode Resources Connect with Galen M. Hair https://insuranceclaimhq.com hair@hairshunnarah.com www.levelupclaim.com   Connect with Tatsuya Nakagawa https://ca.linkedin.com/in/tatsuya https://www.crunchbase.com/person/tatsuya-nakagawa  

The Path - Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada. Module 6: Indigenous Peoples in the Criminal Legal System.Jennifer David is a senior consultant and leads an area of service called Truth and Reconciliation at NVision Insight Group, a majority Indigenous-owned company with First Nations, Inuit, Metis and non-Indigenous shareholders and staff.  From Omushkego, Jennifer is a member of Chapleau Cree First Nation and has a journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, where she currently lives. She oversees the development and delivery of all Indigenous cultural awareness learning opportunities under the banner of The Path.Andrea Menard is a Métis Nation of Alberta citizen who has worked for various organizations that range from academic, government, Treaty-making, and legal non-profit and legal regulatory work, and teaches Reconciliation and Lawyers at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Law as well as In Search of Reconciliation Through Dispute Resolution at Osgoode Hall Law School. Co-founder of the Indigenous Lawyers' Forum, an Alberta-based networking group for Indigenous lawyers, legal academics and law students, Andrea is also on the Board of Directors for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Alberta (ADRIA), and on the Canadian Bar Association's National Indigenous Advisory Group - Criminal Justice. Michael Michel on LinkedIn: I'm happy to share that my third publication, titled "Indigenous… Canadian Bar Association - Understanding the Truth and Engaging in Reconciliation (cba.org) Bigstone Restorative Justice | Justice réparatrice de Bigstone – RJ Pilot (rjalbertacourts.ca) John Borrows, Recovering Canada: The Resurgence of Indigenous Law - McGill Law Journal https://www.aptnnews.ca/investigates/inside-corrections-are-structure-intervention-units-a-safe-alternative-to-isolation/further reading:Overincarceration of Indigenous people: a health crisis | CMAJhttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/opinion-andre-bear-maintaining-legal-system-obstructing-justice-indigenous-1.6781527

Myrna discusses why psychological safety is an imperative in all our relationships and invites listeners to prioritize the same. She also shares a recent experience where no safety was present or promised, as well as, an entirely different experience with a group of Indigenous people who knew exactly how to hold a safe space for her and each other. 

In this episode of the Road to Growth podcast, we are pleased to introduce you to Hart Kaminker. Hart founded Kaminker & Associates in 2004, building it into a full-service boutique immigration law firm that helps individuals and businesses with relocation to Canada. He helps Biotech, Tech, and Healthcare companies and institutions needing to bring skilled workers from out of the country to work at their companies. Hart brings nearly 3 decades of experience in Immigration and Citizenship law earning him a reputation of a compassionate and highly skilled immigration lawyer. He works directly with clients to help them understand what to expect in their case. Hart often speaks at events for the Canadian Bar Association and other community organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. He has served on the Board of Governors at Beth Tikvah Synagogue and the UJA Israel Engagement Committee. He is also a member of the OBA executive committee.   Learn more and connect with Hart Kaminker by visiting him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaminkerLaw Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kaminker-associates-immigration-law/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kaminkerlaw Website: https://www.kaminkerlaw.com/       Be sure to follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/to_growth on Facebook: facebook.com/Road2Growth   Subscribe to our podcast across the web: https://www.theenriquezgroup.com/blog Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2Cdmacc iTunes: https://apple.co/2F4zAcn Castbox: http://bit.ly/2F4NfQq Google Play: http://bit.ly/2TxUYQ2 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKnzMRkl-PurAb32mCLCMeA?view_as=subscriber   If you are looking to be a Guest on Podcasts please click below  https://kitcaster.com/rtg/  For any San Diego Real Estate Questions Please Follow Us at web: www.TheEnriquezGroup.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKnzMRkl-PurAb32mCLCMeA or Call : 858 -345 - 7829 Recently reduced properties in San Diego County * Click **** bit.ly/3cbT65C **** Here* 

Julia welcomes Prof. Nathalie Cadieux from the University of Sherbrooke and Glen Hickerson from the CBA Well-being sub-committee to discuss the first ever nationwide comprehensive study of the psychological health determinants of the legal profession, sponsored by the Federation of Law Societies and the Canadian Bar Association. Today will also see the release of the report's much anticipated recommendations, which we will go through at the end of this episode. Whatever the reason for your interest in this issue, if you are a legal professional or aspire to be one, setting limits and achieving psychological detachment from your work are the key. Canadian Bar Association - The first comprehensive national study on wellness in the legal profession is published (cba.org)Recommendations: https://flsc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/EN_Report_Cadieux-et-al_Universite-de-Sherbrooke_FINAL.pdfExecutive Summary: https://flsc.ca/flsc-s3-storage-pub/u/flsc-s3-storage-pub/FINAL_Executive%20Summary-Wellness.pdfFAQ: https://flsc.ca/flsc-s3-storage-pub/u/flsc-s3-storage-pub/FAQs%20v5%20Wellbeing.pdfCanadian Bar Association - CBA Well-Beingxhttps://nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articles/legal-market/law-firms/2022/a-wake-up-call-for-law-firms

In this episode, Amy interviews Family Arbitrator Lisa Hamilton. Ms. Hamilton is an experienced counsel in all areas of family law. Ms. Hamilton handles family litigation, mediation, arbitration, negotiation and parenting coordination files. She enjoys advising and strategizing to find the best ways to resolve family law problems. Ms. Hamilton attended UBC, obtaining her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990, majoring in Psychology. She obtained her Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Victoria in 1994 and was called to the Bar in 1995. She is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C., the B.C. Arbitration and Mediation Institute, the Family Law Advocates Group, the BC Parenting Coordinators Roster Society and the Family Law Arbitration Group. She regularly presents on family law topics. She was elected as a Bencher for the Law Society as of January, 2016. She was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2017.

Since being called to the Bar in 1992, Hart Kaminker has earned a reputation amongst clients and colleagues as a highly-skilled, compassionate and trusted lawyer. He has extensive experience in all facets of Immigration and Citizenship law with focused knowledge in litigation, the processing of permanent and temporary applications, and reviewing decisions of Immigration tribunals and international visa officers. Hart has represented clients before the Federal Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal and all levels of the Immigration and Refugee Board including the Refugee Protection Division, the Refugee Appeal Division and the Immigration Appeal Division. His expertise also encompasses a wide range of real estate transactions including purchase and sale of properties, refinancing, and commercial subdivisions. Hart is often called upon to speak at events for the Canadian Bar Association and other community organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. He has also served on the Board of Governors at Beth Tikvah Synagogue and the UJA Israel Engagement Committee. Hart is a member on the OBA executive committee. Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/ Website: https://jondwoskin.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/ Email: jon@jondwoskin.com Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big!   Connect with Hart Kaminker : Website: https://www.kaminkerlaw.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaminkerLaw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hart-kaminker-4143b631/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kaminkerlaw

Hart founded Kaminker & Associates in 2004, building it into a full-service boutique immigration law firm that helps individuals and businesses with relocation to Canada. He helps Biotech, Tech, and Healthcare companies and institutions needing to bring skilled workers from out of the country to work at their companies. Hart brings nearly 3 decades of experience in Immigration and Citizenship law earning him a reputation of a compassionate and highly skilled immigration lawyer. He works directly with clients to help them understand what to expect in their case. Hart often speaks at events for the Canadian Bar Association and other community organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. He has served on the Board of Governors at Beth Tikvah Synagogue and the UJA Israel Engagement Committee. He is also a member of the OBA executive committee. Guest Links Website: https://www.kaminkerlaw.com/ LinkedIn link:https://www.linkedin.com/company/kaminker-associates-immigration-law Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/Kaminkerlaw Twitter link:https://twitter.com/KaminkerLaw SJS Website: Thesuccessjourneyshow.com Facebook: @successjourneyshow Instagram: @successjourneyshow Twitter: @success_show

Welcome to Episode 222 of Building My Legacy.Today's labor shortage is causing more employers to consider hiring international workers. If you've ever wondered what's involved for you, as an employer — or if you're an American worker considering taking a job in Canada — this podcast will be of particular interest to you. We talk with Hart Kaminker who specializes in Canadian immigration law. Hart helps skilled professional workers come to Canada, helps Canadian companies hire foreign workers and works with individuals who want to get permanent residence in Canada. Although Hart's expertise is Canadian immigration law, he raises general issues that are most likely to affect American employers, too, if they want to hire international workers. He also answers many questions Americans and others may have about moving to Canada for a job or to live there permanently.So if you want to know:– Major things companies need to think through before hiring international workers– Issues that can keep somebody out of Canada– What happens if you hire an international worker who just doesn't work out– Hart's number one piece of advice for companies thinking about hiring international workers and for workers thinking about taking a job in CanadaAbout Hart KaminkerHart Kaminker founded Kaminker & Associates in 2004, building it into a full-service boutique immigration law firm that helps individuals and businesses with relocation to Canada. He helps biotech, tech and health care companies and institutions that need to bring skilled workers from outside the country to work at their companies. Hart has nearly three decades of experience in immigration and citizenship law, earning him a reputation of a compassionate and highly skilled immigration lawyer. He often speaks at events for the Canadian Bar Association and other community organizations in the Greater Toronto area.About Lois Sonstegard, PhDWorking with business leaders for more than 30 years, Lois has learned that successful leaders have a passion to leave a meaningful legacy. Leaders often ask: When does one begin to think about legacy? Is there a “best” approach? Is there a process or steps one should follow?Lois is dedicated not only to developing leaders but to helping them build a meaningful legacy. Learn more about how Lois can help your organization with Leadership Consulting and Executive Coaching:https://build2morrow.com/Thanks for Tuning In!Thanks so much for being with us this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Please leave a note in the comments section below!If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your friends by using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post.Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic episode updates.And, finally, please take a minute to leave us an honest review and rating on iTunes. They really help us out when it comes to the ranking of the show, and I make it a point to read every single one of the reviews we get.Please leave a review right now. Thanks for listening!Building My Legacyhttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/building-my-legacy/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/episode-222-hart-kaminker-with-the-basics-of-canadian-immigration-law-for-employers-and-international-workers-with-lois-sonstegardphd

Welcome to Episode 222 of Building My Legacy.Today's labor shortage is causing more employers to consider hiring international workers. If you've ever wondered what's involved for you, as an employer — or if you're an American worker considering taking a job in Canada — this podcast will be of particular interest to you. We talk with Hart Kaminker who specializes in Canadian immigration law. Hart helps skilled professional workers come to Canada, helps Canadian companies hire foreign workers and works with individuals who want to get permanent residence in Canada. Although Hart's expertise is Canadian immigration law, he raises general issues that are most likely to affect American employers, too, if they want to hire international workers. He also answers many questions Americans and others may have about moving to Canada for a job or to live there permanently.So if you want to know:– Major things companies need to think through before hiring international workers– Issues that can keep somebody out of Canada– What happens if you hire an international worker who just doesn't work out– Hart's number one piece of advice for companies thinking about hiring international workers and for workers thinking about taking a job in CanadaAbout Hart KaminkerHart Kaminker founded Kaminker & Associates in 2004, building it into a full-service boutique immigration law firm that helps individuals and businesses with relocation to Canada. He helps biotech, tech and health care companies and institutions that need to bring skilled workers from outside the country to work at their companies. Hart has nearly three decades of experience in immigration and citizenship law, earning him a reputation of a compassionate and highly skilled immigration lawyer. He often speaks at events for the Canadian Bar Association and other community organizations in the Greater Toronto area.About Lois Sonstegard, PhDWorking with business leaders for more than 30 years, Lois has learned that successful leaders have a passion to leave a meaningful legacy. Leaders often ask: When does one begin to think about legacy? Is there a “best” approach? Is there a process or steps one should follow?Lois is dedicated not only to developing leaders but to helping them build a meaningful legacy. Learn more about how Lois can help your organization with Leadership Consulting and Executive Coaching:https://build2morrow.com/Thanks for Tuning In!Thanks so much for being with us this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Please leave a note in the comments section below!If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your friends by using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post.Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic episode updates.And, finally, please take a minute to leave us an honest review and rating on iTunes. They really help us out when it comes to the ranking of the show, and I make it a point to read every single one of the reviews we get.Please leave a review right now. Thanks for listening!Building My Legacyhttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/building-my-legacy/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/episode-222-hart-kaminker-with-the-basics-of-canadian-immigration-law-for-employers-and-international-workers-with-lois-sonstegardphd

Today Ian welcomes Tatsuya Nakagawa. He starts off by a guest intro and talks a bit about his story and background. Tats talks a bit about his mission to also help other entrepreneurs be successful and how he manages to do so. Tats and Ian both discuss the importance of past experiences which can form future success stories. Tats then discusses the change of sentiment in people's interest in sustainability and how he had to adapt. Tats then talks more about the operational side of the business and which models did he find useful when starting out. Ian and Tats then go over the ever changing world of technology and new inventions. Tats then talks more about the importance of advertising and marketing when developing new inventions and how that can prove to be the difference between failure and success. Tats in the guest outro shares his future vision and invites listeners to contact him if needed. Parts: 0:00 – Guest Intro 5:49 – Business Help 10:08 – Learn From The Past 14:01 – Public's Choice 18:39 – Operational Side 23:12 – New Tech 26:22 – Making vs Selling 34:24 – Guest Outro About Tatsuya Nakagawa: Tatsuya is the Co-Founder and CEO of Castagra Products, a sustainable roof coating manufacturing company. Over the past 20 years, Tats has launched hundreds of products and services, co-authored the book Overcoming Inventoritis: The Silent Killer of Innovation, and spoken to a variety of industry groups including: Chartered Accounts of Canada, Canadian Bar Association, The American Chamber of Commerce, and The International Internet Marketing Association. Tats is also the host of the popular C-Suite Network podcast, Specified Growth Podcast. Know more about Tatsuya and Castagra here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatsuya/ https://www.castagra.com/ ///////// Download chapter 1 free: https://www.petermanfirm.com/conscious-design-chapter-1-free-download/ ///////// Want to be a guest? Visit: https://bit.ly/3BetCkf ///////// Want to work with us?

This episode was produced in partnership with Lawbrokr, legal's first customer experience platform powered by lawyers. To learn more, visit lawbrokr.com and see how you can join the movement to become a modern lawyer. In this episode we are joined by Pam Hrick. She is the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). Pam provides leadership, support, and direction to LEAF's work to advance gender equality through litigation, law reform, and public education. Before joining LEAF, Pam practiced law at Stockwoods LLP. She clerked for the Hon. Justice Thomas Cromwell at the Supreme Court of Canada and the Hon. Justice David Stratas at the Federal Court of Appeal. Pam currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Canadian Bar Association's Administrative Law Section. Pam has been a longtime advocate for women and for 2SLGBTQ+ communities. She is the Chair of the Board of Management of The 519, a city organization that advocates for the inclusion of 2SLGBTQ+ communities. She has been recognized as a Leader to Be Proud Of, by Start Proud, a Precedent Setter by Precedent Magazine, and a Douglas Miller Rising Star by the Canadian Bar Association. In this conversation, Pam shares with us the common thread she's woven throughout her time in politics, private practice, academia, and now at LEAF. We also discuss the combined role of Executive Director and General Counsel, what's lost when a leadership table isn't represented by diverse perspectives, and how crucial trans inclusivity is within feminist advocacy. Pam also fills us in on how many Broadway shows she's seen (spoiler: it's a lot!) and what she's looking forward to this baseball season. Get involved with LEAF today! This conversation zeroes in on legal technology and the importance of building deliberate relationships to make your career soar. Aaron shares with us the biggest challenge with legal tech today (it's not what you think!), how he has created the training he wishes he'd had access to in the early stages of his career, and the importance of creating cohesive and effective systems. Follow us on Instagram @offthetrackspodcast, check out our website offthetrackspodcast.com, or connect with us by emailing podcast.offthetracks@gmail.com. Thanks for taking some time to step off the tracks with us! – Erin & Piper – Did you know there are free and confidential mental health supports available to law students, paralegals, and lawyers in every province and territory? Click here to learn more and access services.

Chantal and Cathryn welcome Lisa Middlemiss, an immigration lawyer at Gomberg and Dalfen in Montreal to discuss the opportunities and obstacles of Canada's new virtual citizenship process.    With processing times longer than pre-pandemic and the sense of ceremony diminished for applicants, Chantal, Cathryn, and Lisa discuss the transition of interviews, tests, oath ceremonies, and some application processes to online platforms. Do e-citizenship processes just need a few improvements, or should we return to in-person citizenship events after the pandemic?   We then dive into a discussion of IRCC's new permanent residency/citizenship application portal. Lisa and our hosts examine the benefits and drawbacks of the portal's self-representation model for both legal representatives and applicants. They offer helpful hints for walking clients through the digital process and advice on documents to upload in the portal. Will the IRCC enable the role of legal counsel in the future?   In this episode's segment of “Things I Wish I Knew,” Chantal and Cathryn breakdown bulletproofing. They discuss the importance of challenging clients on their statements and evidence before they face opposition.  Other topics include:  Access to information requests.  Misrepresentation vs. Innocent Mistakes  Residency fraud in citizenship applications.  Managing client expectations.  Guest Star: Lisa Middlemiss, an immigration lawyer at Gomberg and Dalfen in Montreal who specializes in matters relating to residency and a member of the Executive of the Citizenship and Immigration Section of the Canadian Bar Association. Explicit content rating due to coarse language.

The Canadian Bar Association has openly acknowledged a lack of diversity in the legal profession. While provincial law societies have made strides towards an inclusive workplace, the racial composition of the legal profession remains predominantly white. This episode compiles candid conversations with racialized law students and a practitioner who recently completed the formal and informal recruitment process. Join our host, Rayleigh Minhyu Lee, to hear about their experiences, how they approached difficult topics, and advice for law students. Thank you to Timothy Chan, Jessica Gill, Bianca Knull, José Rafael Caraballo, and Jane Lee (pseudonym) for your time and participation. 

This is a continuation of the dialogue between the guests from Episode 10 except guest Freshta Karimi could not join us and Ilaha Eli Omar, Founder and Director of Uplift Afghanistan joins to offer more perspective of the humanitarian crisis on the ground following the withdrawl at the end of August 2021 by the United States government.  This episode explores more about the legal, humanitarian and human rights issues facing Afghanistan, its people and the growing Afghani diaspora following the events of 2021.   In this episode we discuss: The current state of the humanitarian crisis on the ground in December 2021 The legal and media response of the world community The feelings of abandonment by the world community that some Afghans are feeling as this crisis starts to fade from the top of news cycles The United States government creation of special visas for certain Afghans as well as humanitarian parole  The failing thusfar by the United States to offer protection to Afghan citizens in need of an escape route Contrasting the United States vs. Canadian response and resettlement by Canada Farnoosh and Ilaha discuss their work together in Afghanistan  What can people do and where can they give to aid the effort    These are the sources recommended by our guests for giving or volunteer efforts: 1)  Uplift Afghanistan (Guest Ilaha Eli Omar is the Founder and Director)  http://www.upliftafghanistan.org 2)   Lifeline Afghanistan (in Canada)   http://www.lifelineafghanistan.ca 3) Afghan  American Artists and Writers Association  http:///www.aaawa.net 4) Afghan Legal Empowerment Portal (Guest Farnoosh Hashemian is a co-founder of this resource)  BIOGRAPHIES FARNOOSH HASHEMIAN Farnoosh Hashemian is an Iranian-American human rights lawyer with over two decades of experience advancing rights and dignity of vulnerable people around the globe. Notably, in 2011, she worked with Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission on security sector reform and from 2014-2018 she led and provided technical support to an Afghan coalition of prominent criminal justice reform groups and government officials, to draft and pass, the country's groundbreaking anti-torture legislation. She is currently the Acting Director for Law Exchange with the Open Society Foundations' Public Health Program, where she works on legal empowerment initiatives that improve health justice for marginalized groups. Since the beginning of the crisis, and in her personal capacity, she has co-led Afghan Legal Empowerment Portal, aiming to secure a safe right of passage for all Afghan grassroots activists left behind. Throughout her career, Farnoosh has sought to honor the work of justice defenders who came before her, build on collective local wisdom, and do the deliberate and careful intersectional work in pursuit of gender justice. In her view, it is indeed a feminist's job to counter the alarming overuse of policing, surveillance, detention, and oppressive measures that replicate in the war on terror, the war on drugs, and the war against migrants. H HASHEMIAN   RANA HAZARAT Rana Hazarat is an Afghan-Canadian human rights lawyer based in Vancouver, BC. She arrived with her family to Canada as refugees. She is of Tajik and Hazara descent. Her lived experience as a refugee impacted her desire to pursue a legal education. Rana studied Political Science and Economics at the University of British Columbia and obtained a Juris Doctor from the Peter A. Allard School of Law. I currently work for Lawyers for Human Rights as a legal intern, which is funded by the Canadian Bar Association and Global Affairs Canada. She works with LHR's Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme. She  is also working on several national and international initiatives in response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, such as assisting with the resettlement of Afghans in Canada, facilitating refugee sponsorship applications, and drafting public legal education materials, calls to actions, and policy papers.  You can reach Rana by contacting the podcast if you have questions or a message for her.    ILAHA ELI OMAR Ilaha Eli Omar is an Afghan-American grassroots mobilizer with over 20 years of international development work and on-the-ground experience in Afghanistan, Haiti, and Kenya. Using her experience as an entrepreneur and founder of a successful technical consulting company, Ilaha enables nonprofits to transition from donor-dependent to self-sustainable organizations. In addition, Ilaha is currently a board and advisory council member for several nonprofits that focus on poverty alleviation, disability rights, emergency aid, and access to healthcare and education for all in Afghanistan, Haiti, and Kenya. Recently Ilaha launched Uplift Afghanistan Fund, a charitable fund aimed at connecting impact-driven donors with grassroots and community-led initiatives in Afghanistan. Ilaha holds a Global MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management, is a member of the US-Afghan Women's Council, and is currently based in San Francisco, California.  JESSICA SMITH BOBADILLA Please find Jessica Smith Bobadilla's bio at her website attorneyjessica.com.  Please follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.  Look out for bilingual Spanish content soon for all our episodes as well as addition of the video to our Youtube channel, I Am Attorney Jessica, The Podcast.

In this episode Jessica is joined by Farnoosh Hashemian, Freshta Karimi, Rana Hazarat and Sahar Muradi to discuss the human rights dimensions of the issues facing Afghanistan in 2021.    In this episode we discuss: The impact of the United States withdrawing in August 2021 from Afghanistan  The reasons for the nature and timing of the United States withdrawing  after 20 years of engagement Different vulnerable groups impacted by the changes in the balance of power and takeover of the Taliban Life for Afghanis under the Taliban Sahar's work as an artist to enable Afghani artists to use their voices and to assist some in attempting to exit  the country so they can continue their work freely Rana's experience working as a Canadian human rights lawyer and with networks of people worldwide attempting to relocate Afghan refugees Frehta's recent journey out of Afghanistan to Canada with her family and the details of how she almost did not make it out despite having been granted visas to multiple countries Farnoosh's work to assist the human rights defenders still stuck in Afghanistan how are at risk with options for exiting the country Freshta's observations of the problems with how US programs and development were conducted in light of the recent withdrawl Fresha's grave concern for her fellow Afghanis  How you can help Afghani people and refugees: These are the sources recommended by our panel:   1) Uplift Afghanistan: http://www.upliftafghanistan.org   2) Lifeline Afghanistan: http://www.lifelineafghanistan.ca    3) Afghan American Artists and Writers Association: http:/www.aaawa.net BIOGRAPHIES  Farnoosh Hashemian is an Iranian-American human rights lawyer with over two decades of experience advancing the rights and dignity of vulnerable people around the globe. Notably, in 2011, she worked with Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission on security sector reform. From 2014-2018 she provided technical support to a coalition of prominent criminal justice reform groups and government officials, to draft and pass, Afghanistan's groundbreaking anti-torture legislation. She is currently the Acting Director for Law Exchange with the Open Society Foundations' Public Health Program, where she works on legal empowerment initiatives that improve health justice for marginalized groups. Since the beginning of the crisis, and in her personal capacity, she has co-led Afghan Legal Empowerment Portal, aiming to secure a safe right of passage for all Afghan grassroots activists.   Throughout her career, she has sought to honor the work of justice defenders who came before her, build on collective local wisdom, and do the deliberate and careful intersectional work in pursuit of gender justice. In her view, it is indeed a feminist's job to counter the alarming overuse of policing, surveillance, detention, and oppressive measures in the war on terror, the war on drugs, and the war on migrants.  Freshta Karimi is the Founder and Director of Da Qanoon Ghushtonky (DQG – “Seeker of Law” in Pashto), one of the largest legal aid service organizations in Afghanistan. Shereceived her Law degree in 2014 from Payam-e-Noor University in Kabul and she is currently studying her masters in Kabul in law and criminology.  Freshta Karimi has dedicated her career to improving access to justice and promoting women and children's rights since 2002. She is also a member of several groups advocating policy changes and has traveled extensively internationally representing her organization and promoting various women's rights issues and highlighting the concerns of Afghan women. As an activist from the ‘new generation' of Afghan women, Ms. Karimi has already affected change within her own organization and is committed to building a more secure and safe country for vulnerable groups. In addition to her commitment to combatting violence against women in Afghanistan, through her organization, Da Qanoon Ghushtonky (DQG), Ms. Karimi has worked to increase communities' legal public awareness at the district and provincial levels, utilizing the publication of a variety of popular legal awareness materials.   DQG currently provides legal aid services for women, children and men in criminal and family cases in 16 provinces of Afghanistan. From DQG's establishment in 2006 through March 2017, DQG lawyers have handled more than25,000 criminal and family cases, of which 70% of clients have been released or in civil cases, resolved in the favor of clients.  Moreover, DQG has worked consistently to build the capacity of defense lawyers, law and Sharia Law students, paralegals, judges, prosecutors and police over the past eight and half yearsthrough various training programmes. She has also frequently travel within Afghanistan, as part of her duties as Director of DQG.  She has also traveled internationally to represent both DQG and Afghan civil society. Recent travel has included trips to the India, Maldives, Belgium, United States, Germany, Spain, France, Denmark, Sweden and Hungary. In 2018 and 2016 she has also attended the Brussels and Geneva conferences and in 2014, she attended the London Conference on Afghanistan as the spokesperson on behalf of Afghan civil society. On many of these trips she has engaged the international media. Freshta received an award for her work from the Danish government.  She can be reached by email at freshta.karimi1@gmail.com.   Rana Hazarat is an Afghan-Canadian human rights lawyer based in Vancouver, BC. My family and I came to Canada as refugees. I am of Tajik and Hazara descent. My lived experience as a refugee has impacted my desire to pursue a legal education. I studied Political Science and Economics at the University of British Columbia and obtained a Juris Doctor from the Peter A. Allard School of Law. I currently work for Lawyers for Human Rights as a legal intern, which is funded by the Canadian Bar Association and Global Affairs Canada. I work in LHR's Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme. I am also working on several national and international initiatives in response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, such as assisting with the resettlement of Afghans in Canada, facilitating refugee sponsorship applications, and drafting public legal education materials, calls to actions, and policy papers.  She can be reached by email at ranahazarat@gmail.com    Sahar Muradi is a NYC-based writer, performer, and educator. She is the author of Ask Hafiz (which received the 2021 Patrons' Prize for Emerging Artists from Thornwillow Press), [ G A T E S ] (Black Lawrence Press), and A Garden Beyond My Hand (Belladonna*), as well as co-author of A Ritual in X Movements (Montez Press), and co-editor of One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature (University of Arkansas Press). She is a founding member of the Afghan American Artists and Writers Association, which has recently mobilized to respond to the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan through public education and advocacy, fundraising on behalf of at-risk Afghan artists and activists, assisting with evacuation and resettlement efforts, and facilitating visa and parole application filing. Sahar has an M.F.A. in poetry from Brooklyn College, an M.P.A. in international development from NYU, and a B.A. in creative writing from Hampshire College. She directs the arts education programs at the cultural equity organization City Lore and dearly believes in the bottom of the rice pot. More at saharmuradi.com.  

We discuss the exclusion of lawyers in the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's online platforms and portals, with Lisa Middlemiss.Lisa Middlemiss has been a lawyer with Gomberg Dalfen since 2013. She is passionate about Canadian immigration and citizenship issues and she advocates at the federal level as a member of the Executive of the Citizenship and Immigration Section of the Canadian Bar Association.Click here for more information on The CBA Immigration Law Section.The Immigration Law Section wrote to IRCC earlier this year to raise concerns about the exclusion of lawyers. Former CBA President Bradley Regehr sent a letter expressing concern that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is preventing lawyers from effectively representing their clients to Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino and Justice Minister David Lametti.To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcasts''): podcasts@cba.orgPlease subscribe, rate and review our podcast if you are enjoying it on Apple Podcasts.

Brad Regehr (BA '93) was working at the Turnkey Desk when a friend stopped by holding an LSAT study guide. That's the first time he considered becoming a lawyer. A grandchild of a residential school survivor, and a survivor himself of the Sixties Scoop, Brad has now worked in Indigenous law for more than 20 years. In fall 2020, he was named president of the Canadian Bar Association -- the first Indigenous president in the organization's 124-year history. Brad speaks with Abby Ollila, a current history student at Waterloo. They talk about how he reconnected with his identity and culture as a student, and what the future holds for Indigenous rights in Canada. Learn more about the Haldimand Tract: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD7Jd2Mnq3U Learn about the land you live on (interactive map): https://native-land.ca/ Listen to Brad's podcast as CBA president: https://www.cba.org/Publications-Resources/Podcasts/Conversation-with-the-President Find more resources from this episode and beyond (+ show notes): https://uwaterloo.ca/impact-stories/podcast-reconciliation-and-canadas-legal-system

Hi and a warm welcome to Episode #35 of The Elevate Business Podcast. We have the pleasure of introducing you to Jennifer Bessell, an accomplished senior leader in the non-profit sector with experience in both professional associations and charitable organizations including the Boys and Girls Club of Canada and the Canadian Bar Association, Nova Scotia Branch.  We are excited to learn more about Jennifer's people-first approach to leadership in her current role as CEO of Newfoundland Labrador Organization of Women Entrepreneurs and the impact she is having in helping shape the future of women entrepreneurship as a member of the Women Presidents Organization.To learn more about Jen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-bessell-91a99b52/and NLOWE: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newfoundland-and-labrador-organization-of-women-entrepreneurs-nlowe-/

In this episode, we sit down with Leah Klassen, Associate at Wolseley Law in Winnipeg. The tag-line at Wolseley Law is “doing law differently,” and Leah has been embodying this ethos since she graduated law school. From holding a role in Pro Bono Students Canada's (PBSC) national office, to articling with the Legal Help Centre of Winnipeg, working in family and fertility law in the GTA, and now working for a progressive and innovative law firm back in Winnipeg, Leah's legal career has consistently been focused on access to justice initiatives. We discuss our shared love of PBSC, setting and following boundaries in your professional life, what it means to be “doing law differently,” and Leah's future career as an operator of a magic school bus. In this episode, we refer to a 2016 student debt article Leah is quoted in. Read that article here: https://www.cba.org/Publications-Resources/CBA-Practice-Link/Young-Lawyers/2016/handcuffs Leah references the Canadian Bar Association's The Every Lawyer podcast, specifically the following episode, “Conversations on Calls to action 34-40 — Indigenous people in the justice system.” Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/39YhwAX1fAcYupVP4r6jjo?si=eI7SXurUQeGoVU6Qr1UNJQ Follow us on Instagram @offthetrackspodcast, check out our website offthetrackspodcast.com, or connect with us by emailing podcast.offthetracks@gmail.com. Thanks for taking some time to step off the tracks with us! - Erin & Piper Did you know there are free and confidential mental health supports available to law students, paralegals, and lawyers in every province and territory? Click here to learn more and access services: https://www.cba.org/Sections/Wellness-Subcommittee/Wellness-Programs Trailer Music: There Ain't No Other Way - Jingle Punks Support by RFM - NCM: https://youtu.be/fb5KRcivopU

What this episode is about? We all know that love knows no boundaries. However, in reality there are a lot of obstacles international couples may need to go around if they want to stay together and not being separated by the border. In this episode I invite Alicia Backman-Beharry, an amazing Canadian Immigration Lawyer who joined Holthe Immigration Law in August of 2020, to discuss spousal sponsorship applications. We talk about the differences between Inside and Outside Canada Sponsorships, benefits and drawbacks of each type of the application, as well as reasons why your Spouse or Common-Law Partner Class or Family Class application can be refused. COVID-19 and the travel restriction also had a significant impact on the processing of the Spousal Sponsorship applications. Alicia and I discussed how this global pandemic impacted applicants and how IRCC takes a ruthless approach of refusing applications for frivolous mistakes, in attempt to keep the processing time down. I definitely recommend that you listen to this episode carefully, because even slightest mistake can crush your plans of sponsoring your loved ones. Also, take a note of tips we provide that can help you make sure your application is not refused: 1. Examine and follow your Documents Checklist with forensic level of details 2. Provide sufficient proof of genuineness of your relationships 3. Provide an explanation along with your application if any of the documents or questions do not apply to your situation. 4. Make sure you have added your signatures and validated your forms 5. Ensure your photos meet the requirements. If you want to learn more about the difference between Spouse or Common-Law Partner Class and Family Class applications Alicia Backman-Beharry prepared a wonderful blogpost that covers everything you need to know about these two applications. Check the blog post here: https://www.holthelaw.com/spousal-sponsorship-canada/ About today's guest of the Canadian Immigration Podcast Alicia Backman-Beharry has practiced as an immigration lawyer for 17 years. She was called to the Alberta bar in 2003 and was an associate with a medium sized firm and a boutique immigration law firm. Alicia went out on her own as a sole practitioner 8 years ago. She works with corporations, individuals and other lawyers to solve difficult immigration legal issues. Prior to joining the Holthe Immigration Law team, she also contributed as a part-time program lawyer at a non-profit poverty law clinic. She finds it rewarding to help individuals and companies through the complex world of Canadian Immigration law. Having taught courses on temporary and permanent residence, Alicia is able to see how various pieces of the immigration puzzle fit together, and can provide advice so that people understand which application to pursue and why. During her career as Immigration Lawyer Alicia Backman-Beharry has assisted with a wide range of business immigration matters, including applications for Labour Market Impact Assessments, work permits, Intra-company transfers, and Employer Compliance Reviews. She also has extensive experience with Permanent Residence applications including Express Entry, Provincial Nominee Program, Humanitarian and Compassionate, and family class sponsorships. While working with the poverty law clinic, she routinely helped people with inadmissibility issues, refugee matters, restoration applications, and temporary residence permits. She has appeared before various Courts and Tribunals, including Federal Court, Provincial Court, the Court of Queen's Bench, the Immigration and Refugee Board, the Immigration Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division. Volunteering has always been a big part of how Alicia spends her time. She enjoyed 9 years on the Board of a large immigrant serving settlement organization, including serving as Secretary, Vice-Chair, Chair and Past-Chair of the Board and is a past Chair of the Immigration and Citizenship Law Alberta South Section of the Canadian Bar Association. You can book a consultation with Alicia Backman-Beharry on our Holthe Immigration Law website: www.holthelaw.com/consultation About the host of the Canadian Immigration Podcast Mark Holthe is a Canadian Immigration Lawyer based in Lethbridge, Alberta. He has started his legal career with a large national law firm in Calgary where he initiated the business immigration practice at the firm. Since those early days, he has had the opportunity to work in a wide variety of law firm configurations before finally realizing that the best place for him was within the confines of an immigration boutique firm of his own making. As a Canadian immigration lawyer, Mark has particular experience in assisting clients with all aspects of Canadian immigration law. He assists large national and multinational companies in navigating the complex world of Canadian immigration and provides strategic immigration advice to international and domestic companies seeking to recruit and retain foreign skilled and semi-skilled personnel. Mark also assists temporary foreign workers with their transition to permanent resident status in Canada and over the past few years, he has taken great satisfaction in helping individuals and families with their various immigration related needs. Mark finds no greater satisfaction than helping to facilitate the reunification of families. While attending law school, Mark worked as an Immigration officer for Citizenship and Immigration Canada on the Alberta/Montana border. While completing his final year of law school, he worked as a pro bono student to the Canada Border Services Agency Hearings Officers representing the minister before the Immigration Appeal Division in Calgary, Alberta. As a result of his prior experience as an immigration officer, Mark has been able to enhance the services he offers to his cross-border and overseas clients. Since that time, he has continued to work hard fostering positive relationships with the various immigration related government departments and has focused a significant portion of his practice on cross-border matters. About the Sponsor of the Canadian Immigration Podcast This episode sponsored by Canadian Immigration Institute, a platform designed to help people navigate Canadian immigration on their own. On this platform, I offer Do-It-Yourself (DIY) video courses guiding you through the process of submitting your immigration application without a need to hire a lawyer. These video courses not only allow people to better understand Canadian immigration but also earn me sufficient revenue to continue pushing out great free content on Canadian immigration. Visit Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com Listen to the Canadian Immigration Podcast on Spotify and iTunes Canadian Immigration Podcast is being broadcasted on our iTunes and Spotify channels. If you have enjoyed this podcast and think someone else would, too, please subscribe and share this episode! Subscribe to our various social media channels If you want to connect with me or retain Holthe Immigration Law to assist you with immigration to Canada feel free to book a consultation on our official website: www.holthelaw.com Additionally, consider subscribing to our social media channels to stay up to date with the news on Canadian Immigration: Canadian Immigration Institute Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvm03Tm2e-ndNkWhiiQUlA Canadian Immigration Institute Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CanadianImmigrationInstitute Express Entry Law Private Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CanadianImmigrationInstitute Holthe Immigration Law LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/holthe-business-immigration-law Holthe Immigration Law Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/holthe.immigration.law/ Holthe Immigration Law Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/HoltheLaw

Conversations with the President: The President's take on TRC's Calls to Action, Ep 2: Adequate Education FundingFor his first episode as host of Conversations with the President, Brad talks with Alyssa Bird and Robin Sutherland about The Truth and Reconciliation's eleventh call to action is a demand for “adequate funding to end the backlog of First Nations students seeking post-secondary education.”Alyssa Bird is an Anishinaabe and Cree woman from the Pequis First Nation. She earned her Juris Doctorate at the University of Manitoba, where she was an executive member of the Manitoba Indigenous Law Students Association. She now practises with Evans Family Law in Winnipeg.Robin Sutherland is a Mushkegowuk Innino raised in the Moose Cree First Nation and a proud member of the Fort Albany First Nation. His background is in teaching secondary school in his home community. He is now the Director of Indigenous Relations at Lakehead's Bora Laskin Faculty of Law.Visit www.cba.org/dispatches to learn more about CBA President and his goals.To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcast''): podcasts@cba.orgPlease subscribe, rate and review our podcast if you are enjoying it on Apple Podcast.

This September Brad Regehr made history, becoming the first First Nations President of the Canadian Bar Association. A partner at Maurice Law in Winnipeg, the first and only indigenous owned national law firm in Canada, he has focused on civil litigation, aboriginal, corporate and administrative law. He has represented and advised First Nations clients on natural resource projects, land claims, flooding and tax agreements. And he is a past President of the Manitoba Bar association. As an infant Regehr was adopted by a non-indegenous family and raised in Winnipeg. Though, unlike many first nations children taken in the 60's scoop who had horrible experiences, he says “I was one of the lucky ones. I got adopted into a loving, caring family.” And he has since reconnected with his biological family in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. He and National Chief Perry Bellegarde discuss the impact of his adoption and the sixties scoop on his decision to go into the law, the importance of the recognition of indigenous, customary law as one of the pillars of Canada's legal system, why the UN Declaration on the Rights Indigenous People needs to be implemented in Canada, the importance of First Nations people being in senior leadership positions and more.A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions.   

Misrepresentation is one of the most serious wrongdoings that the applicant for Permanent Residence in Canada can do. In other words you want to avoid misrepresentation at all cost throughout each stage of the immigration process. And let's call things by their proper name - lying is never a good idea whether you're lying in immigration or any other context. However, what if you never intended to misrepresent your case or did not even know that you have misrepresented something? This is just one of the issues that I have discussed with Rekha McNutt in today's episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast where we touched on the various aspects of appealing the removal of PRs for misrepresentation. Rekha practices primarily in immigration law. She has extensive experience with temporary resident visas, express entry, federal skilled workers, Canadian experience class, Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, family class sponsorships, refugee claims, pre-removal risk assessments, and in-Canada humanitarian and compassionate permanent residence applications. Rekha has focused much of her practice on Federal Court Judicial Review applications of various types of negative immigration-related decisions. Rekha had appeared before the Alberta Provincial Court and the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta. She has also appeared extensively before the Federal Court of Canada and Immigration Tribunals such as the Immigration Division, Refugee Protection Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division. Rekha is the past-Chair (2015-2016 & 2016-2017) of the Southern Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, Immigration Section. In this episode Rekha and I had an awesome and engaging conversation about misrepresentation and the consequences of such wrongdoings. It is surprising that there are so many ways how almost anyone can become a victim of their own carelessness, lack of understanding of the immigration processes or even reports filed by their close circle of friends or relatives. Rekha gave a full explanation of what misrepresentation really is and how serious and challenging the consequences may get if IRCC believes there was a misrep. Additionally, in this episode we discussed the following: what is the misrepresentation; examples of Innocent Misrepresentation; misrepresentation on inadmissibility vs. misrepresentation on eligibility; different ways IRCC finds out about cases of misrep; fairness letter and Section 44 reports; the process of removal of permanent residents for misrepresentation; different ways to fight your case if Immigration Division issues a removal order. Sponsor: Canadian Immigration Institute - Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe Affiliate Program: Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate OR, go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”. Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link Additional Resources: Rekha's firm: http://www.caronpartners.com/ How to contact Rekha: RMcNutt@caronpartners.com Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/ Topics for our Next Podcast If you have a suggestion for topics we could cover in the Podcast, please drop me a line at mholthe@holthelaw.com. If you know of anyone that would be interested in coming on the Podcast as a guest, please send them my way. share on facebook, share on twitter, share on LinkedIn Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes! If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here. Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast on iTunes and Spotify If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe. If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love We also encourage you to subscribe to our Canadian Immigration Podcast on Spotify.

It is not a secret that Permanent Residents can lose their status and be removed from Canada for committing a crime. In fact, a lot of people have heard some stories about PRs being removed from Canada for violating the law. However, not everyone knows specifics and details on how this removal process is done and if there are any ways Permanent Residents can challenge their removal from Canada. Well, today's episode is really focused on Permanent Residents and Criminality. In this episode of the Special Series on Immigration Hearings and Appeals I discuss everything you might want to know about Criminality as a ground for removal of Permanent Resident from Canada with amazing Canadian Immigration Lawyer Rekha McNutt. Rekha practices primarily in immigration law. She has extensive experience with temporary resident visas, express entry, federal skilled workers, Canadian experience class, Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, family class sponsorships, refugee claims, pre-removal risk assessments, and in-Canada humanitarian and compassionate permanent residence applications. Rekha has focused much of her practice on Federal Court Judicial Review applications of various types of negative immigration-related decisions. Rekha had appeared before the Alberta Provincial Court and the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta. She has also appeared extensively before the Federal Court of Canada and Immigration Tribunals such as the Immigration Division, Refugee Protection Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division. Rekha is the past-Chair (2015-2016 & 2016-2017) of the Southern Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, Immigration Section. In this episode Rekha and I had a very interesting discussion on challenging removal of PRs from Canada based on criminality. Rekha shared insights and demystified what happens to a PR charged with a criminal offense and how this fact is treated both within criminal as well as immigration system. Additionally, in this episode we discussed the following: consequences for a PR when charged with a criminal offense; types of criminal charges and difference between serious and regular criminality; options for appealing removal order; practical aspects of representing a client in appealing removal orders. Sponsor: Canadian Immigration Institute - Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe Affiliate Program: Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate OR, go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”. Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link Additional Resources: Rekha's firm: http://www.caronpartners.com/ How to contact Rekha: RMcNutt@caronpartners.com Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/ Topics for our Next Podcast [reminder]If you have a suggestion for topics we could cover in the Podcast, please drop me a line at mholthe@holthelaw.com. If you know of anyone that would be interested in coming on the Podcast as a guest, please send them my way. share on facebook, share on twitter, share on LinkedIn[/reminder] Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes! If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here. Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast on iTunes and Spotify If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe. If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love We also encourage you to subscribe to our Canadian Immigration Podcast on Spotify.

Losing your status in Canada is the worst nightmare for Permanent Resident. Unfortunately, many Canadian PRs end up losing their Permanent Residence status. One of the common ways to lose your PR status is by not meeting the residency requirement. In this episode Rekha McNutt joins me once again for our Special Series of Immigration Hearings and Appeals to discuss specifics of residency requirements and filing appeals of the Removal Orders at the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD). Rekha practices primarily in immigration law. She has extensive experience with temporary resident visas, express entry, federal skilled workers, Canadian experience class, Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, family class sponsorships, refugee claims, pre-removal risk assessments, and in-Canada humanitarian and compassionate permanent residence applications. Rekha has focused much of her practice on Federal Court Judicial Review applications of various types of negative immigration-related decisions. Rekha had appeared before the Alberta Provincial Court and the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta. She has also appeared extensively before the Federal Court of Canada and Immigration Tribunals such as the Immigration Division, Refugee Protection Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division. Rekha is the past-Chair (2015-2016 & 2016-2017) of the Southern Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, Immigration Section. In this episode Rekha and I had a very engaging discussion of all sorts of issues related to challenging Removal Orders and answered some of the most common questions about residency requirement for Canadian Permanent Residents: How can you lose your PR status in Canada? How much time do you have to stay in Canada to maintain your PR Status? Can a Canadian PR be turned away at the border for not meeting the residency requirement? How much time you have for appealing your Removal Order? Does the process of filing an appeal to IAD differ for in-Canada and outside of Canada appellants? Are there any exceptions to the residency requirement? What does a hearing at Immigration Appeals Division look like? How can you justify your absence in Canada? Sponsor: Canadian Immigration Institute - Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe Affiliate Program: Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate OR, go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”. Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link Additional Resources: Rekha's firm: http://www.caronpartners.com/ How to contact Rekha: RMcNutt@caronpartners.com Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/ Listen to Mark Holthe's Canadian Immigration Podcast Topics for our Next Podcast If you have a suggestion for topics we could cover in the Podcast, please drop me a line at mark@canadianimmigrationinstitute.com. If you know of anyone that would be interested in coming on the Podcast as a guest, please send them my way. share on facebook, share on twitter, share on LinkedIn Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes! If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here. Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe. If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

During this episode Canadian Immigration Lawyers Mark Holthe and Arghavan Gerami get into discussion on whether the approaches taken by the CBSA during COVID-19 go in line with the principles of the Open Government, transparency and rule of law. Lack of responsiveness to the dialogue between CBSA and law practitioners and public played important role in formulating the view that people were left on their own in figuring out the details of the legal basis upon which the officers make their decisions at the border. In a pandemic people need more transparency and clarity on new policies and procedures that the Government implements. However, as discussed during this episode many attempts to bring clarify and request any information that would allow people to be aware of new changes in cross-border travel were left unanswered. The host and guest of this episode also address the issue of lack of communication from the Government in interpreting what is considered to be “non-essential” purpose. All these factors directly affected many refugee claimants and people attempting to cross the border, but eventually turned away because of the “optional/non-essential” nature of their travel. Arghavan Gerami Bio: Arghavan Gerami is the Founder and Senior Counsel at Gerami Law Professional Corporation (‘PC'), a full-service immigration law firm in Ottawa, Ontario. She completed her Juris Doctor and Master of Laws at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2007. Ms. Gerami worked at the Ministry of Attorney General and the Department of Justice before transitioning to private practice in 2011. She also had the privilege of serving the Honourable Mr. Justice M. Evans at the Federal Court of Appeal. Since founding Gerami Law PC in 2011 Ms. Gerami has focused her practice on immigration and refugee litigation and represented numerous clients before the Federal and provincial Courts, as well as the various divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board. Ms. Gerami is an Executive Member on the Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association. In 2017 and 2018 Ms. Gerami also served on the Organizing Committee of the annual CBA Immigration Law Conference. She has been interviewed on national and local television, and quoted in national and local newspapers such as the Globe and Mail, National Post and the Ottawa Citizen. Ms. Gerami has also published numerous journal articles, presented at immigration and refugee law conferences and events across Canada, and provided guest lectures at the University of Ottawa. As a Supervising Principal to articling students, Ms. Gerami enjoys facilitating the career development of law students and young lawyers. She also enjoys travelling as a well as spending time with her two children, husband and Bambi (her dog). Show notes summary: [NOTE: Igor try to soft the information below and write up the show notes so that they are not quite as harsh] COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on immigration and the way immigration law is practiced in Canada. Pandemic revealed a whole set of challenges with transparency and in some instances, showed the unwillingness of the authorities to reveal the bases upon which the decisions by the CBSA are being made. Uncertainty, inconsistent application of the rule of law, and many other issues, exacerbated by COVID caused concern among immigration lawyers. At some point it seemed like CBSA has been conducting itself as if it's above the rule of law. Here are just some of the issues discussed and analyzed during the podcast: - Uncertainty with the Canada-US agreement, as CBSA was unwilling to disclose the details of the border agreement with the US. This approach was going contrary with the spirit of transparency and for long time prevented lawyers from learning the details of the Agreement; - refusing to disclose the manual on what constitutes essential purpose, that is being applied to make administrator decisions with very significant consequences; - a number of reports about inconsistent application of the rule of law, complicated by the continuous modification of policy, made it difficult for people to know and understand their rights; - some of the media reports of serious misconducts. Overall, recent events and experience of Canadian immigration lawyers raise concerns regarding the lack of accountability and transparency in actions of the immigration authorities. Without a doubt there is an understanding that the Government had to deal with unprecedented challenges, but there are also the expectations of respect, transparency, openness to dialogue and observance of the rule of law by the CBSA. People need to be able to trust decision makers, individuals in the positions of power and have the right to know details of the acts used to make decisions on the cases that affect them. This is particularly true in times when individuals are experiencing significant fear and anxiety due to a pandemic. Canadian Immigration Institute - Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe Affiliate Program: Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate OR, go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”. Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link [Tweet "Business Immigration programs are alive and well in Canada."] Listen to Mark Holthe's Canadian Immigration Podcast Topics for our Next Podcast [reminder]If you have a suggestion for topics we could cover in the Podcast, please drop me a line at mholthe@holthelaw.com. If you know of anyone that would be interested in coming on the Podcast as a guest, please send them my way. share on facebook, share on twitter, share on LinkedIn[/reminder] Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe. If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Getting your immigration application refused sucks! Fortunately, you don't simply have to accept the rejection and live with it. In this episode, Rekha McNutt joins me in our first episode of our Special Series on Immigration Hearings and Appeals to pull back the curtain on Sponsorship Appeals at the Immigration Appeal Division. Rekha practices primarily in immigration law. She has extensive experience with temporary resident visas, express entry, federal skilled workers, Canadian experience class, Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, family class sponsorships, refugee claims, pre-removal risk assessments, and in-Canada humanitarian and compassionate permanent residence applications. Rekha has focused much of her practice on Federal Court Judicial Review applications of various types of negative immigration-related decisions. Rekha had appeared before the Alberta Provincial Court and the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta. She has also appeared extensively before the Federal Court of Canada and Immigration Tribunals such as the Immigration Division, Refugee Protection Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division. Rekha is the past-Chair (2015-2016 & 2016-2017) of the Southern Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, Immigration Section. In this episode Rekha and I covered the following areas: what to do first when the rejection letter comes; step by step process flow of a sponsorship appeal; practical examples of how spousal and parental sponsorships can go wrong; pros and cons of the ADR process; top tips and strategies for running a successful appeal; and a host of other amazing insight from a seasoned litigator. Sponsor: Canadian Immigration Institute - Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe Affiliate Program: Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate OR, go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”. Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link [Tweet "What to do when your sponsorship application is refused."] Additional Resources: Rekha's firm: http://www.caronpartners.com/ How to contact Rekha: RMcNutt@caronpartners.com Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/ Listen to Mark Holthe's Canadian Immigration Podcast Topics for our Next Podcast [reminder]If you have a suggestion for topics we could cover in the Podcast, please drop me a line at mark@canadianimmigrationinstitute.com. If you know of anyone that would be interested in coming on the Podcast as a guest, please send them my way. share on facebook, share on twitter, share on LinkedIn[/reminder] Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes! If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here. Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe. If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Another federal election has come and gone and after the dust has settled, Canada will have a minority Liberal government. The question is.....how will this impact Canadian immigration law, policy and practice? In this episode I invited my good friend and fellow immigration lawyer, Ravi Jain to join me to weigh in on where we think immigration policy is headed following this fall Federal election. Now that we now we will have a minority Liberal government for the next 4 years (or less), what impact will this really have on the future of Canadian immigration for us immigration lawyers, consultants and our clients? Although Ravi and I are both serving as table officers with the National Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, all of the view expressed in this episode are ours alone and do not reflect those of the Canadian Bar Association and the National Immigration law section. This episode is just two friends sharing our thoughts on what we feel may be in store for Canadian immigration in the coming years. Here is what we covered: Parents and Grandparents Refugees MPs in and out Economic Immigration Programs Temporary Foreign Worker Program Immigration Consultants Sponsor: Canadian Immigration Institute - Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe Affiliate Program: Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate OR, go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”. Earn 30% when someone purchases your affiliate link [Tweet "Canadian Immigration - Post Election 2019"] Additional Resources: Ravi Jain Bio: https://www.gands.com/team/bio/ravi-jain Ravi's Firm Website: https://www.gands.com/home Canadian Immigration Institute: https://canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/ Topics for our Next Podcast [reminder]If you have a suggestion for topics we could cover in the Podcast, please drop me a line. If you know of anyone that would be interested in coming on the Podcast as a guest, please send them my way. share on facebook, share on twitter, share on LinkedIn[/reminder] Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes! If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here. Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe. If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

With the increasing numbers of refugee claimants crossing into Canada via the US border, the topic of refugees has become extremely polarizing in our country. As we approach another election year, political divisiveness and rhetoric from all parties will continue to dominate the media. What we are left with is a lot of misinformation being spread that only exacerbates the confusion the average Canadian has regarding the refugee issue. In this episode Canadian immigration lawyer Hart Kaminker joined me to help shed some light on this topic and provide some great insight from a refugee lawyer perspective. Tune in to this episode and get rid of your pre-conceived ideas about refugees once and for all. Hart Kaminker has extensive experience in all facets of Immigration and Citizenship law with focused knowledge in litigation, the processing of permanent and temporary applications, and reviewing decisions of Immigration tribunals and international visa officers. Hart has represented clients before the Federal Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal and all levels of the Immigration and Refugee Board including the Refugee Protection Division, the Refugee Appeal Division and the Immigration Appeal Division. Hart is often called upon to speak at events for the Canadian Bar Association and other community organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. He has also served on the Board of Governors at Beth Tikvah Synagogue and the UJA Israel Engagement Committee. In this episode Hart shared insight on the following topics related to Canadian refugee law: Current influx of refugees from the United States Safe Third Country Agreement Scheduling problems at the RPD Life working as a refugee lawyer [Tweet "Demystifying the refugee issue once and for all"] Additional Resources: How to Contact Hart Kaminker: hkaminker@kaminkerlaw.com Firm Website (Kaminker and Associates): https://www.kaminkerlaw.com/ IRB Statistics on irregular border crossers: https://irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/statistics/Pages/Irregular-border-crosser-statistics.aspx Topics for our Next Podcast [reminder]If you have a suggestion for topics we could cover in the Podcast, please drop me a line. If you know of anyone that would be interested in coming on the Podcast as a guest, please send them my way. share on facebook, share on twitter, share on LinkedIn[/reminder] Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes! If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here. Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe. If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love