Could Canada Be a Haven for ?Dreamers'?

• Pages: 65-66

APRIL 2018 ABA JOURNAL || 65

PHOTOGRAPHY BY THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/MICHAEL DESJARDINS

MIDYEAR MEET ING REPORT || Your ABA

Could Canada Be a

Haven for ‘Dreamers’?

When President Donald Trump

canceled the Defer red Action for

Childhood Arrivals program in September,

the fates of about 700,0 00 young adults

were thrown into doubt. DACA recipients

were set to begin losing thei r status in

March, and the ABA Ho use of Delegates

passed a resolution urgi ng Congress to put

legislation in place allowing DACA recipi-

ents and others to apply for permanent legal

status and citizensh ip. But if that doesn’ t

happen, could DACA recipien ts fi nd a safe

harbor in Canada?

Under current Canadian immigration

rules, it wouldn’ t be impossible for DACA

recipients to fi nd legal status in Canada—

but it would be diffi cult, said Andres Pelenur,

a founding partn er of the Toronto-based

Borders Law Firm and a specialist in citizen-

ship and immigration law.

Pelenur was speaking during “Lessons

Across Borders: What the U .S. and Canad a

Can Teach One Another Abou t Establishing

a Successful Immi gration Policy,” a CLE pro-

gram at the 2018 ABA Mid year Meeting in

Vancouver, British Columbia. Th e program

was co-sponsored by the Commission on

Immigration and the Commission on

Hispanic Legal Rights & Responsibilities.

Panel member Gordon M aynard of

Maynard Kischer Stojicevic in Vancouver

said broadly speak ing, there are four paths

for being accepted into C anada as an immi-

grant: economic , in which the selecti on is

skill-based; family reunifi cation; asylum; and

humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

A CLEAR FIX?

About 58 percent of immigrants were

accepted through the economic route last

year. But if you’re a DACA recipient, your

chances of getting a tem porary resident

visa for study or work pur poses “are virtu-

ally zero,” Pelenur said. “ To have standing

to apply for a temporar y resident visa, you

have to have a legal status in the c ountry

that you’re applying from.”

Even if the standing is sue were over-

looked, the federal department called

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Canada would look with suspicion on any

claims that a DACA holder would sta y in

Canada only temporarily.

The next option would be to a pply in

the skilled worker class . The point system

Canada uses is heavi ly biased toward

people who alread y have Canadian work

experience or who’ve studi ed in Canada.

“But it is possible to q ualify with that poin t

system even though you’ve never put a foot

here,” Pelenur added.

To do that, applicants woul d likely have

to score very high on a lan guage exam,

be between ages 20 and 29, and h ave a

bachelor’s degree with at l east three years’

work experience or a master’s degree

with two years’ work exper ience. But as

CNN reported in Novemb er, 20 percent

of DACA holders are still in middl e school or

high school, 18 pe rcent are in college, and

4 percent have their bach elor’s degrees.

Then there is the refugee p ath, if DACA

holders were able to enter Canada through

unguarded areas of th e border and fi le a

claim. “You can-

not claim: ‘Oh,

they hate me in

the U.S. and I ’m

suffering in the

U.S., so bec ause

of my problems

in the U.S.

please let me

stay in Canada,’ ”

Pelenur said.

“You have

to prove you

have a fear of

Panelists Gordon May nard, David Ware,

Margaret Stock and And res Pelenur at the

“Lessons Across Bord ers” CLE program.

Gordon Maynard