Legal Aid

April 4, 2023

No refugee law legal aid in NB an unfolding human rights crisis: Amnesty International, the Atlantic Human Rights Centre and Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre
More cause for concern than for celebration on Refugee Rights Day, the organizations say
Amnesty International Canada is joining the Atlantic Human Rights Centre and the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre on Refugee Rights Day to raise the alarm about the lack of refugee law legal aid in New Brunswick.
Refugee Rights Day in Canada is celebrated every year on April 4 to commemorate the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1985 Singh decision which extended the protection of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to refugees, including to refugee claimants.
In New Brunswick, however, there is more cause for concern than for celebration today.
Since late February, the federal government has transferred over 150 refugee claimants from Quebec, where there is legal aid support for refugee law, into New Brunswick where there is none.
The New Brunswick Refugee Clinic is the only legal clinic in New Brunswick that takes on refugee claims. It is staffed by just one person, and relies on a volunteer roster of just a handful of lawyers. Over a month since the transfers began, the refugee clinic has received no new funding, and there has been no federal or provincial commitment to deliver any emergency funding – a delay that advocates are calling inexcusable.
“Given the intricacies of the complicated legal process that individuals must go through to receive refugee protection, including a hearing before a judge, access to legal counsel is critical.”  said Julia Sande, human rights law and policy campaigner at Amnesty International Canada.
“Without access to legal representation, refugee claimants are at risk of failing a claim and being deported, even if they are in need of refugee protection. Failing a refugee claim in part because of lack of legal representation can mean life or death,” Sande said.
Dr. Christina Szurlej, director of the Atlantic Human Rights Centre agrees: “Canada is at risk of violating its obligation to uphold the principle of non-refoulement, a cornerstone of international refugee law. This is the obligation to not remove a refugee claimant to a country where they may face the threat of persecution,” she said.
The three organizations sent a letter to the federal and provincial ministers of immigration on March 24, 2023, calling on them to immediately provide funding to ensure that refugee claimants have access to legal aid. Only the provincial minister responded, but made no commitment to fund refugee law legal aid despite the urgency.
“There is a human rights crisis unfolding in the province,” said Aditya Rao, lawyer and founding board member of the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre in New Brunswick. Rao has met directly with two unrepresented claimants to answer questions about the refugee claim process through a settlement agency tasked with providing services to claimants in Fredericton.
“The settlement agencies are doing everything they can, but they cannot provide legal assistance for refugee claims. And for these individuals, everything hinges on the success or failure of their refugee claim. In my view, by relocating refugee claimants to a jurisdiction where they have no meaningful access to legal counsel, the federal government is knowingly putting lives at risk,” he said.
The refugee claimants are in hotels in Fredericton and Moncton under a program managed by a federal government subcontractor, Xpera. A recent news report has raised concerns about the company pressuring refugee claimants to complete their refugeeeport claims with no access to counsel and preventing a lawyer from meeting her client in the client’s hotel room.
While no new money has been provided for legal aid, the report notes that Xpera received $4.5 million for their work in Atlantic Canada in February.
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●      Letter dated March 24, 2023 to Minister Sean Fraser and Minister Arlene Dunn from Amnesty International Canada, Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre and Atlantic Human Rights Centre
●      Letter dated March 28, 2023 to Aditya Rao from Minister Arlene Dunn
For more information, contact the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre - info@madhucentre.ca