Lawyers back demand for immigration probe

By Peter Small and Donovan Vincent TORONTO STAR

Refugee lawyers today threw their support behind a call for an independent inquiry into Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board.

Board member Dr. Sam Ifejika demanded the probe when he announced his resignation yesterday, charging that racism thrives at the board and that members are constantly pressured to turn in negative decisions and reject claimants.

"The only way to restore public confidence is to have an independent inquiry," Samuel Berman, of the Refugee Lawyers' Association, said in an interview this morning.

"After problems with the refugee board earlier this year, we were assured that . . . (they) would be corrected and that such a public inquiry would not be necessary," Berman said in an interview today.

His group represents 120 lawyers.

"It's become clear that although there have been changes in personnel that there are still problems," he said.

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Bernard Valcourt stressed that the board has an arms' length relationship with the ministry.

The public should await the results of a promised internal probe, Justin de Beaucamp said today.

"The accusation is serious. It has to be looked at. It's really up to the board to deal with matters of this sort," he said.

De Beaucamp refused to say if it would be Valcourt's responsibility to launch an independent probe, calling such an idea speculative.

Last March, Anna Ker, a Toronto refugee board official accused of pressuring tribunal members to reject legitimate refugees, lost her job in a continuing shake-up.

Days earlier, refugee tribunal members Naomi Goldie and Ralph Snow were permanently removed from the hearing schedule after they were criticized by refugee advocates for passing mocking notes about a torture victim who appeared before them in February.

Later that month, Toronto immigration lawyer Lisa Rosenblatt rejected an apology from a refugee board tribunal after she charged two members made sexist remarks about her in secret notes and failed to give her Romanian client a proper hearing.

Ifejika cleared out his Mississauga office yesterday six weeks before his term in the $86,000-a-year job officially ends.

The decision will cost him $10,000, the amount he would have been paid between now and the end of December.

Illustration(s):

Photo: Dr. Sam Ifejika

Subject(s) - The Toronto Star : Canada immigration government resignation Sam Ifejika
Edition: FIN
Length: Medium, 303 words

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