Canada Behind Bars: A Conversation on Immigration Detention
Thursday, November 18, 2021 | 12:00 – 1:30 pm EST
Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR) is pleased to partner with the Human Rights Research and Education Centre (HRREC) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) to present our second and final panel on dignity behind bars:
Canada Behind Bars: A Conversation on Immigration Detention
Canada incarcerates thousands of people, including those fleeing persecution and seeking protection, on immigration-related grounds every year in often abusive conditions. A recent report from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International documents how people in immigration detention are regularly handcuffed, shackled, and held with little-to-no contact with the outside world. Those with mental health conditions experience discrimination throughout the process. With no set release date, they can be held for months or years. The Canada Border Services Agency remains the only major law enforcement agency in Canada without independent civilian oversight. Join us for this insightful conversation, moderated by Samer Muscati, about what is happening in Canada and how we can collectively push for an end to these abusive practices with Hanna Gros, Molly Joeck, Justin Mohammed and João Velloso.
Thursday, November 18 2021
12 p.m.
ONLINE | ZOOM Webinar
Event in English. | Free and open to all.
RSVP required to receive the link.
This event is part of a diverse and rich programme developed to highlight the 40th Anniversary of HRREC!
#CREDP40HRREC
Dignity Behind Bars: The Impact of Prisons on Mental Health
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 | 12:00 – 1:30 pm EDT
Please join Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR) and the Law Union of Ontario (LUO) for a panel on the mental health impacts of prison and particularly solitary confinement. The discussion will be moderated by Zoë Paliare, creator and host of The Field podcast, who will be speaking with Mark Iyengar, associate at Peck and Company, and Vicki Prais, human rights consultant and lawyer.
This program is eligible for up to 1.5 substantive hours of Continuing Professional Development with the Law Society of Ontario.
To join the panel, please click the link at the appropriate time: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82557820749?pwd=L050V0h5U1JQUlVpRTB6bVdCTmVmdz09
Meeting ID: 825 5782 0749
Passcode: 450507
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About Zoë:
Zoë Paliare is the creator and host of The Field podcast, which shares the stories of formerly incarcerated people with the goal of inspiring a future where they are seen for their humanity, not judged for their past. Zoë is also a transformational coach, entrepreneur, former litigator, learning & development professional, traveller, foodie, lifelong learner, mentor, and speaker. She also serves as the Director of Equity & Associate Performance at Cassels. In this role, Zoë is responsible for supporting the Cassels’ work allocation program, leadership development initiative, and the firm’s mentorship program, as well as coaching associates to reach their career goals. She is also a part of Cassels’ EDI team, advancing the firm’s inclusion and diversity efforts and related initiatives and events.
About Mark:
Mark Iyengar is an associate at Peck and Company and CLAIHR is lucky to have him as our pro bono counsel. He practices criminal, quasi-criminal, and administrative law. He joined Peck and Company in 2020, after serving as a judicial law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for British Columbia. Before clerking, Mark articled in criminal and extradition law with the federal government. Mark sits on the board of directors of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers in British Columbia, serving as the chair of the advocacy committee.
About Vicki:
Vicki is an international human rights lawyer and academic, an engaging voice who speaks and writes in an accessible and eloquent manner including through hosting a podcast series, “The Passion Factor: Pursuing a Career in Human Rights.” As an independent human rights consultant, she exhibits expertise in prisoners’ rights, prison reform, dignity behind bars, and torture prevention. This year, she published an article in the Journal of Human Rights Practice, entitled “The Implementation in Canada of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners: A Practitioner’s Perspective.”
From the Field: Building a Career in Human Rights With Vicki Prais
Friday, September 17th at 12:00 pm (noon) EDT (presentation with Q&A to follow)
The Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR) Board is pleased to offer a back to school event open to all students and recent graduates from Canadian University Chapters of CLAIHR. As we transition back into our academic and working lives we are provided with an opportunity to contemplate and rethink what direction we want to take our careers. We hope you will join us for an inspiring conversation with our guest Vicki Prais who has 25 years’ experience as a human rights practitioner, to explore the many ways you can apply a passion for human rights to the work that you do.
This event is free of charge.
Special thanks to the Law Union of Ontario for their support.
Please register here:
About Vicki Prais:
Vicki is an international human rights lawyer and academic, an engaging voice who speaks and writes in an accessible and eloquent manner including through hosting a podcast series, “The Passion Factor: Get Soaked in the Human Rights World”. As an independent human rights consultant she exhibits expertise in prisoners’ rights, prison reform, dignity behind bars and torture prevetntion.
Find her here: www.vickiprais.com
More about CLAIHR: https://claihr.ca/
Screening of The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel
Thursday, June 17, 2021 at 7 pm EDT
With Intro and Q&A by Filmmaker Joel Bakan
Moderated by Audrey Macklin
We are thrilled to announce that CLAIHR’s 2021 fundraiser will be a screening of The New Corporation with introduction and Q&A by filmmaker and UBC law prof, Joel Bakan, moderated by UT law prof and CLAIHR Advisory Board member, Audrey Macklin.
Professor Bakan’s 2003 film, The Corporation, examined an institution within society. The New Corporation reveals a world now fully remade in the corporation’s image, perilously close to losing democracy. It traces the devastating consequences, connecting the dots between then and now, and inspires with stories of resistance and change from around the world. Please read more about the film here: https://thenewcorporation.movie/.
Cost is $5 for students, who can register here: [removed]
For everyone else, the cost is $30, and you can register here: [removed]
***This program is eligible for up to 2.5 substantive hours of Continuing Professional Development with the Law Society of Ontario.***
About Professor Bakan:
Joel Bakan is an author, filmmaker and a professor of law at the University of British Columbia. His work examines the social, economic, and political dimensions of law, and he has published in leading legal and social science journals as well as in the popular press. He has won numerous awards for his scholarship and teaching, worked on landmark legal cases and government policy, and served frequently as a media commentator. You can read more about Professor Bakan here: http://www.joelbakan.com/.
About Professor Macklin:
Audrey Macklin is Director of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies and Chair in International Human Rights Law at the University of Toronto. She teaches, researches, and writes in the area of migration and citizenship law, business and human rights, and administrative law. She has published widely in domestic, international, and interdisciplinary journals and edited collections. You can read more about Professor Macklin here: https://claihr.ca/about/advisory-board/.
Webinar: Responses to Homelessness in the Time of COVID19
Tuesday, August 18, 2020 12PM EDT
Register on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l5OIO1fuTAmSJvdI1nPyZg
Registration is Free. Recommended donation is $20.
Please send donations to Jur-Ed Foundation @ https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/jur-ed-foundation/ Donations will be applied toward legal education (including covering the costs of this webinar) and homelessness advocacy.
Lawyers who attend may use this webinar as one substantive hour towards their Continuing Professional Development requirements.
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Join Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights, Jur-Ed Foundation, and the Law Union of Ontario for a one hour webinar discussing the impact of COVID19 on homeless populations in Canada and what is being done to hold governments accountable for pandemic-related human rights violations.
Leilani Farha, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, will discuss the recently developed National Protocol for Homeless Encampments in Canada and its potential to encourage governments to move away from criminalization and forced evictions and towards meaningful engagement with encampment residents as rights holders.
Sanctuary Ministries’ outreach worker, Greg Cook and Goldblatt Partners lawyer, Jessica Orkin will discuss the recent lawsuit filed against the City of Toronto by a coalition of public interest groups demanding appropriate distancing and sanitation standards in shelters and a swifter, broader plan to relocate residents to vacant hotels and alternative housing.
Together these speakers and moderator Jesse Gutman, host of Jur-Ed and CLAIHR Board member, will explain the disproportionate impact of COVID19 on already vulnerable homeless people and the need for stable, long-term, and affordable housing solutions moving forward.
See below for more information on our panelists and moderator.
Leilani Farha
Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing (June 2014 – April 2020)
Leilani brought a dynamic energy to the role of UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing; energy she will need to reach her goal of prompting and facilitating an international paradigm shift in how housing is approached.
During her time as Special Rapporteur, Leilani presented reports to the UN on homelessness, the connection between the right to housing and the right to life, and the financialization of housing. She has traveled on official missions to Serbia and Kosovo, India and most recently to Chile, amongst others, to investigate and comment on the state of the right to housing.
In addition to her requisite work, Leilani has used her platform to start The Shift, a global movement to reclaim and realize the right to housing, which calls for everyone to approach housing as a human right, not a commodity.
A lawyer by training, Leilani assumed the role of Special Rapporteur in 2014, but she has been tirelessly advocating for the realization of the right to housing throughout her career. She is the current executive director of the NGO Canada Without Poverty.
In her previous role as Executive Director of the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, she was instrumental in launching a historic challenge to government inaction in the face of rising homelessness.
She has been a member of the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions for UN Habitat, and was a founding member of ESCR-Net, an international network of actors committed to economic, social and cultural rights.
Greg Cook
Outreach Worker, Sanctuary Ministries
Greg Cook is an Outreach Worker at Sanctuary Ministries in Toronto. Sanctuary is a healthy, welcoming community in which people who are poor and excluded are particularly valued. Sanctuary was the named plaintiff organization in the recent civil claim injunction against the City of Toronto to maintain proper social distancing in the Municipal shelter system.
Jessica Orkin
Partner, Goldblatt Partners
Jessica Orkin has a broad litigation practice including criminal, civil and administrative law matters, with an emphasis on constitutional, human rights, Aboriginal rights and access to information law matters.
Jessica appears at all levels of court, including the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada. She is also a frequent speaker at legal conferences and seminars. She has been named in Best Lawyers as a leading aboriginal law practitioner.
Jessica received her law degree from the University of Toronto. She also holds an M.Phil. degree in Development Studies from the University of Oxford, and a bachelor of arts and sciences from McMaster University. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 2006, after clerking at the Federal Court of Appeal.
Jesse Isaac Gutman
President, Jur-Ed Foundation and Board Member, CLAIHR
Jesse Gutman is a 2013 call Union-side Labour lawyer in Toronto, practicing in English and French. He is the President of the Jur-Ed Foundation and the host/producer of its podcast of the same name. Jesse was previously a high school teacher in Quebec and is a part-time Klezmer musician. He is passionate about human rights and international solidarity.
Canadian Responses to the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Reflecting on the 1st Year
Join Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights and the OBA Foundation for Canadian Responses to the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Reflections on the First Year, a panel discussion and reception.
Date: Thursday, November 24, 2016
Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Location: Ontario Bar Association, 20 Toronto Street, Toronto
Register here.
Speakers include:
Mario Calla, Executive Director, COSTI Immigrant Services
Mario J. Calla, BA, MSW, has been the Executive Director of COSTI Immigrant Services since 1987. COSTI is a community service agency that has been providing a broad range of services to immigrants and refugees in the greater Toronto area for the past 64 years. It provides educational, social, and employment services to help all immigrants in the Toronto area attain self-sufficiency in Canadian society. COSTI has been active in working to help bring and settle Syrian refugees.
Louis Century, Goldblatt Partners
Louis Century is an Associate at Goldblatt Partners has has helped the firm to privately sponsor a Syrian refugee family. Before joining the firm, he clerked for Justice Richard Wagner at the Supreme Court of Canada. Louis has held positions at the International Criminal Court working for a defence team, at the Canadian Council for Refugees as a research fellow, and at the Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights working on constitutional appeals. Louis has also conducted refugee status determinations for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Nairobi. Louis has also recently joined an advisory group that will be exploring next steps for the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program.
Jacqueline Swaisland, Waldman & Associates
Jacqueline Swaisland is an immigration lawyer and a co-founder and the Toronto coordinator of the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program, a national program that trains lawyers to assist groups to privately sponsor refugees. The organization has trained over 1300 lawyers in 11 cities who are committed to assisting sponsor groups to fill out private sponsorship applications for refugees for free. In recognition of her outstanding work with refugees, she was recognized with a CARLA award by the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers.
Moderator: Marco Oved
Marco Chown Oved is a reporter on the Star’s foreign desk, with a focus on Europe and Africa. Oved joined the Star’s city desk in 2012, covering everything from crime to politics, but has taken particular interest in stories involving abuse of power and corruption. Before joining the Star, Oved was a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and worked for Radio France Internationale in Paris.
In 2014, Oved was named the R. James Travers international corresponding fellow and traveled to Burkina Faso, Ghana and Peru to investigate the links between Canadian foreign aid and mining. The resulting articles were nominated for a Canadian Association of Journalists investigative award.
April 29, 2016: Join CLAIHR For an Evening of Theatre and Discussion
Join CLAIHR and Nightwood Theatre at the Tarragon Theatre on April 29, 2016 for an evening performance of Refuge, followed by a discussion about the play and Canada’s refugee system with CLAIHR’s Juda Strawczynski and Heather Cohen, and Refuge’s director Kelly Thornton.
Tickets can be purchased here.
Day of the Endangered Lawyer: Honouring the Brave
January 26, 2016 @ 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm
The Day of the Endangered Lawyer, marked on January 24th of each year, is a time to reflect on the plight of lawyers around the world, who risk harassment, persecution and injury as they work to protect the rights of those who need it most.
On January 26, 2016, theLaw Society and Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR) held a special event honouring our colleagues, and calling for the safe and unobstructed practice of law around the world.
Re-Claiming The Right-To-Work
Come celebrate International Human Rights Day with CLAIHR and friends:
RE-CLAIMING THE RIGHT TO WORK:
LABOUR RIGHTS AS HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
DECEMBER 10, 2015
In recent years, the phrase “right to work” has come to be synonymous with a right-wing agenda in the United States to undermine the trade union movement by prohibiting union security agreements, restricting the payment of union dues, and weakening the economic power of unions. Ironically, far from providing a general guarantee of employment to people seeking work, so-called “right-to-work” laws restrict freedom of association by limiting the kinds of contractual agreements unions can make with employers and, in many cases, have resulted in lower wages and benefits for workers.
This event, co-sponsored by Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR), the Centre for Labour Management Relations, Faraday Law, and Goldblatt Partners, seeks to re-claim the “right to work” by re-framing work as a public good, rather than a commodity. Such a shift has far-reaching implications:
- If the right to work is a human right, what does this mean for the right of workers to participate in productive activities and to obtain an adequate standard of living?
- What are the implications for national and international regulatory systems, as well as transnational migration?
- How can such a shift help organized labour and non-unionized workers to respond to growing conditions of precarity and the erosion of decent work?
We will explore these questions, and more, at a panel discussion of trade unionists, workers’ activists, and academics.
Panelists:
- Fay Faraday, Lawyer, Consultant & Writer, Faraday Law
- Syed Hussan, Coordinator, Migrant Workers Alliance for Change
- Steven Shrybman, Partner, Goldblatt Partners
- Hassan Yussuff, President, Canadian Labour Congress
Moderator:
The event is FREE.
Come learn and share your thoughts.
Light snacks & refreshments will be served.
Date: Thursday, December 10, 2015
Time: 05:30 PM – 07:30 PM
Location: TRS Commons (1-150), 7th Floor, Ted Rogers School of Management, 55 Dundas St. W., Toronto, ON
Register here.
