2015 SCC 58
The appellant in this case was a Tamil who fled from Sri Lanka to Canada by ship. The ship was abandoned by its crew, prompting the appellant and several other passengers on the ship (also Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka) to crew the ship for the remainder of the journey to Canada. As a result, the Refugee Protection Board determined that the appellant was inadmissible to Canada, as he fit the definition of “people smuggler” under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (“IRPA”) for aiding and abetting other people on the ship to enter Canada illegally. The Supreme Court found that the Board’s interpretation of “people smuggler” was unreasonable, finding that s.37(1)(b) of the IRPA was instead targeted at members of criminal organizations aiding or abetting serious transnational crimes in order to obtain direct or indirect material benefit for themselves. As the interpretation applied by the Board was not within the range of reasonable interpretations, the appellant was entitled to have his admissibility to Canada reconsidered. The Court did not consider arguments as to the constitutionality of s.37(1)(b) under s.7 of the Charter, as they found that s.7 was not engaged at the stage of determining admissibility.
The Asper Centre intervened before the Supreme Court in this case, and was represented by Professor Audrey Macklin from the U of T Faculty of Law and Barbara Jackman of Jackman, Nazami and Associates.
Read the Asper Centre factum here
Facta
| Date | Document |
| 2014 / 10 / 29 | Appellant – B010 |
| 2015 / 01 / 08 | Respondent – Minister of Citizenship and Immigration |
| 2014 / 12 / 22 | Intervener – Attorney General of Ontario |
| 2015 / 01 / 30 | Intervener – Canadian Council for Refugees |
| 2015 / 02 / 02 | Intervener – Amnesty International |
| 2015 / 02 / 02 | Intervener – Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers |
| 2015 / 02 /02 | Intervener – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |
| 2015 / 02 / 06 | Respondent – Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (reply) |