Focus on Access to Justice

In Canada, the Ottawa Citizen published a series of reports on "the wide variability in the way Federal Court of Canada judges rule on cases involving immigrants and refugees." Here are the articles:

Part 1: "Tough on Refugees: Are Non-Canadians Getting a Fair Shake from our Federal Judges?" (Nov. 2011) [text]

Part 2: "Federal Court Judges Do Their Best to Tet It Right, Ex-Chief Justice Says" (Nov. 2011) [text]

Part 3: "Despite Independence, Can Judges Ignore Their Own Ideologies?" (Nov. 2011) [text]

Part 4: "Chill of Ministerial Comments Erodes Independence of Immigration and Refugee Board, Former Chair Says" (Nov. 2011) [text]

Comment on series: "Access to Justice Should Not Look Like a Lottery," Ottawa Citizen (29 Nov. 2011) [text]

A live chat between the series' reporter, Don Butler, and Sean Rehaag, a professor at York University's Osgoode Law School, wrapped up the series.

On the U.S. side, immigration lawyers received their share of criticism in a report entitled "Accessing Justice: The Availability and Adequacy of Counsel in Immigration Proceedings," published by the Cardozo Law Review. This New York Times article summarizes the findings: "In a Study, Judges Express a Bleak View of Lawyers Representing Immigrants."

The Asylumist blog posted two comments on "The Problem with Immigration Lawyers and How to Fix It": Part 1: Immigration Judges (Jan. 2012); Part 2: Bar Associations (Jan. 2012).

[Photo credit: "Justice," Wikipedia]

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