OTTAWA — A group of Ottawa immigration lawyers is lobbying the federal government to change its plans to close the local office for refugee hearings, saying it will make it harder for claimants to receive a fair hearing.
The Immigration and Refugee Board has several hearing rooms for refugee cases at its national headquarters on Slater Street, says Mike Bell, one of several lawyers representing more than 30 colleagues who regularly represent refugees in Ottawa. He says the lawyers were told in January that the board will move the hearings to Montreal at the end of this month and use the Ottawa space for other purposes. Bell said it’s his understanding the move is part of cost-reduction efforts demanded of all government departments by Treasury Board.
“This is a denial of access to justice for the most vulnerable people we deal with,” says Bell, of the law firm Workable Immigrant Solutions. “To ask someone, within two months of landing in a country where you don’t speak the language, to go to a large city you don’t know anything about, just doesn’t seem realistic or fair.”
The IRB registry office in Ottawa receives documents and holds hearings for three of the board’s four divisions: immigration, refugee protection and the immigration appeal division. The office also has a video conferencing room that Bell says has been used extensively for appeals and for immigration hearings presided over by board members from Montreal.
According to Bell, the Ottawa office holds more than 600 hearings a year, across all three divisions. It also has a three-year backlog of refugee appeal cases.
“We certainly have a demand for the hearing rooms here,” says Bell.
The IRB could not be reached for comment.
Under the new refugee processing rules that came into effect last December, new refugee claimants are to have their cases heard by an IRB member between 45 and 60 days of arriving in Canada, depending on their country of origin. Bell says that means refugee claimants a few months into life in Canada, many of whom do not speak either official language and lack a steady source of income so soon after arrival, will be expected to find a lawyer, make their way to Montreal with family members and find the hearing room. If the hearing is in the morning, says Bell, that will require finding somewhere to stay the night before. If the hearing is in the afternoon and goes overtime or is delayed for some reason, there is a possibility of having to find somewhere to stay that night.
The average refugee hearing lasts three hours or more, says Bell, although there are often delays when paperwork is not in order, interpreters can’t be found, claimants are sick or late.
“People will be saying, ‘How will I find the money for this, where will I stay?’ ” says Bell. “Dealing with the cost and logistics alone will be challenging. How does that make a person ready for a refugee hearing?”
For their lawyers, it will mean wasting time on the highway and taking most of the day off from the rest of their cases, says Bell.
“A few immigration lawyers do very well, but a lot of practitioners in immigration law cannot afford to take the day off, especially anyone working with people of modest means like refugees,” says Bell. “You don’t go into it to make money.”
For now, says Bell, Legal Aid Ontario — which pays the legal fees of many claimants — has agreed to pay travel costs for the lawyers, but it can’t do so indefinitely.
Failing a reversal of the decision, the Ottawa lawyers say they’ve asked the IRB to retain the video conferencing facility, which is currently slated to be dismantled.
“They told us it costs $28,000 to keep the video conferencing facility going,” says Bell, “but we’ve heard they’ve put a temporary hold on the dismantling of the video conferencing room.”
IRB had previously announced it will open new video conferencing sites in Winnipeg and Edmonton.
“The current fiscal climate has required the IRB to continue to improve efficiency while maintaining both fairness and service to the public,” the IRB says in a statement on its website. “The IRB has been conducting hearings successfully by video conferencing for several years and the technology has proven itself to be reliable and cost-effective.”
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Louisa Taylor
The Immigration and Refugee Board has several hearing rooms for refugee cases at its national headquarters on Slater Street, says Mike Bell, one of several lawyers representing more than 30 colleagues who regularly represent refugees in Ottawa. He says the lawyers were told in January that the board will move the hearings to Montreal at the end of this month and use the Ottawa space for other purposes. Bell said it’s his understanding the move is part of cost-reduction efforts demanded of all government departments by Treasury Board.
“This is a denial of access to justice for the most vulnerable people we deal with,” says Bell, of the law firm Workable Immigrant Solutions. “To ask someone, within two months of landing in a country where you don’t speak the language, to go to a large city you don’t know anything about, just doesn’t seem realistic or fair.”
The IRB registry office in Ottawa receives documents and holds hearings for three of the board’s four divisions: immigration, refugee protection and the immigration appeal division. The office also has a video conferencing room that Bell says has been used extensively for appeals and for immigration hearings presided over by board members from Montreal.
According to Bell, the Ottawa office holds more than 600 hearings a year, across all three divisions. It also has a three-year backlog of refugee appeal cases.
“We certainly have a demand for the hearing rooms here,” says Bell.
The IRB could not be reached for comment.
Under the new refugee processing rules that came into effect last December, new refugee claimants are to have their cases heard by an IRB member between 45 and 60 days of arriving in Canada, depending on their country of origin. Bell says that means refugee claimants a few months into life in Canada, many of whom do not speak either official language and lack a steady source of income so soon after arrival, will be expected to find a lawyer, make their way to Montreal with family members and find the hearing room. If the hearing is in the morning, says Bell, that will require finding somewhere to stay the night before. If the hearing is in the afternoon and goes overtime or is delayed for some reason, there is a possibility of having to find somewhere to stay that night.
The average refugee hearing lasts three hours or more, says Bell, although there are often delays when paperwork is not in order, interpreters can’t be found, claimants are sick or late.
“People will be saying, ‘How will I find the money for this, where will I stay?’ ” says Bell. “Dealing with the cost and logistics alone will be challenging. How does that make a person ready for a refugee hearing?”
For their lawyers, it will mean wasting time on the highway and taking most of the day off from the rest of their cases, says Bell.
“A few immigration lawyers do very well, but a lot of practitioners in immigration law cannot afford to take the day off, especially anyone working with people of modest means like refugees,” says Bell. “You don’t go into it to make money.”
For now, says Bell, Legal Aid Ontario — which pays the legal fees of many claimants — has agreed to pay travel costs for the lawyers, but it can’t do so indefinitely.
Failing a reversal of the decision, the Ottawa lawyers say they’ve asked the IRB to retain the video conferencing facility, which is currently slated to be dismantled.
“They told us it costs $28,000 to keep the video conferencing facility going,” says Bell, “but we’ve heard they’ve put a temporary hold on the dismantling of the video conferencing room.”
IRB had previously announced it will open new video conferencing sites in Winnipeg and Edmonton.
“The current fiscal climate has required the IRB to continue to improve efficiency while maintaining both fairness and service to the public,” the IRB says in a statement on its website. “The IRB has been conducting hearings successfully by video conferencing for several years and the technology has proven itself to be reliable and cost-effective.”
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Louisa Taylor
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