Published Article

May 09, 2022

Anthony Delisle, graduate of the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa and Delphine Nakache, leader of the Canadian VULNERTeam, co-authored the article ‘Humanitarian and Compassionate Applications: A Critical Look at Canadian Decision-Makers’ Assessment of Claims from “Vulnerable” Applicants’, which belongs to the LAWS Special Issue Vulnerability and the Legal Protection of Migrants: A Critical Look at the Canadian Context.

The article examines the process of applying for permanent residency in Canada via the Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) programme. By drawing upon extensive desk research and the preliminary analysis of interview data, the authors discuss the specific challenges that this process poses for vulnerable applicants and suggest areas for improvement. Anthony and Delphine also focus more specifically on H&C applications and decisions that directly impact children and explain why a change in the Canadian application of the best interests of the child principle is required. Finally, they consider two recent trends in H&C cases: the sharp increase in the number of applications and the increasingly high rates of refusal.

The Special Issue Vulnerability and the Legal Protection of Migrants: A Critical Look at the Canadian Context, which is co-edited by Delphine Nakache, leader of the Canadian VULNER team, and Anna Purkey, another member the Canadian VULNER team, seeks to contribute to the debate on what ‘vulnerability’ in the context of migration means, by providing a series of papers offering a critical analysis of how ‘vulnerability’ is defined and understood in Canadian law, policy and practice. This special issue is based on the first series of results from the Canadian VULNER research project that is funded by the Canadian Research Council (SSHRC/CRSH) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Société et Culture (FRQSC) as part of the EU Horizon’s VULNER project.

The full article is available in open access and can be downloaded here.

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