Douglas Judson is a lawyer in Ontario who practices in litigation. He can be found on Twitter @dwjudson

In this episode, we are taking a break from immigration and discussing defamation law, which is the law around communications about a person that tends to hurt their reputation. We are focusing on one of the defenses to defamation lawsuits, which is Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or SLAPP. Many provinces, including British Columbia and Ontario (and if you have watched the Jon Oliver episodes, many jurisdictions in the United States) have anti-SLAPP laws designed to encourage public discourse about matters in the public interest.

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Pantea Jafari is lead counsel at Jafari Law, which she opened in 2012.

In this episode, we discuss IRCC’s response to the crisis in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Details of the program that is the subject of our discussion can be found on IRCC’s website at canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/israel-west-bank-gaza-2023/canada-tr-measures.html.

Our discussion focuses on the temporary measures in place for Palestinians who live in Gaza, and are seeking to reunite with a Canadian citizen or permanent resident relative who lives in or intends to live in Canada. In addition, we discuss the open work permits for Israelis, comparisons between Gaza and Ukraine, consequences of Canada abiding by a possible ICJ ruling that Israel committed genocide, anti-semitism and more.

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Robin Seligman is the founder of Seligman Law, an immigration law firm in Toronto.

In this episode we discuss Canada’s business immigration programs, including a history of the Immigrant Investor Program and Entrepreneur Program, the current Start-Up Visa Program, and difficulties that entrepreneurs face in coming to Canada to start businesses.

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Michael Greene, K.C. is an immigration lawyer in Calgary. He served as the National Chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship & Immigration Section in 2000-2001. He is representing Jaskirat Singh Sidhu in his immigration and deportation matters.

We discuss the Federal Court decision in Sidhu v. Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), 2023 FC 1681.

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