The Migration Law Research Cluster (MLRC) at Robson Hall is engaged in research on the intersections between law and migration, including the areas of immigration law and policy, refugee law and policy and migrant settlement and resettlement. The MLRC seeks to build knowledge and understanding in these areas and to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement. The MLRC’s founding members are Professors Gerald Heckman, Amar Khoday and Shauna Labman.
Social Media
You can follow the MLRC on the following social media platforms:
Twitter – @MigrationLRC
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/migrationlrc/
Blog page – www.migrationresearch.ca
The “Building Connections: Refugee Research and Community Outreach Conference” took place at Robson Hall on March 28th, 2014.
Building Bridges 2017 Conference Report
The “Building Bridges Between Canada’s Indigenous and Newcomer Groups 2017 Conference” took place at Thunderbird House on May 12 – 13, 2017.
The Migration Law Research Cluster organizes a series of lectures during the academic year.
Click here for a list of upcoming events. Click here to see some of our past events.
Related Publications
- Gerald Heckman & Amar Khoday, “Once More Unto The Breach: Confronting The Standard of Review (Again) And The Imperative of Correctness Review When Interpreting The Scope of Refugee Protection” (2019) 42:1 Dalhousie LJ [forthcoming]
- Gerald Heckman, “Revisiting the Application of Section 7 of the Charter in Immigration and Refugee Protection” (2017), 68 U.N.B. L.J. 312.
- Amar Khoday, “Resisting Criminal Organizations: Reconceptualizing the “Political” in International Refugee Law”, (2016) 61:3 McGill LJ 461.
- Shauna Labman, “Private Sponsorship: Complement or Conflicting Interests?" (2016) 32:2 Refuge 67.
- Amar Khoday, “Tough on Terror, Short on Nuance: Identifying the Use of Force as a Basis for Excluding Resisters Seeking Refugee Status” (2015) 4:2 Can J Hum Rts 179.
- Amar Khoday, "Seen in its True Light: Desertion as a Pure Political Crime" (2014) 30:2 Refuge 93.
- Shauna Labman & Catherine Dauvergne, "Evaluating Canada's Approach to Gender-Related Persecution – Revisiting and Re-Embracing 'Refugee Women and the Imperative of Categories'" in Efrat Arbel, Catherine Dauvergne, and Jenni Millbank, eds, Gender in Refugee Law: from the Margins to the Centre (London: Routledge, 2014).
- Shauna Labman, "Migration, Movement & Family: The Decline of Family in Canadian Immigration" 2014(2) G20 Youth Forum Conference Proceedings 153-157.
- Gerald Heckman, "Inquisitorial Approaches to Refugee Protection Decision-making: the Australian Experience and Possible Lessons for Canada" in Laverne Jacobs & Sasha Baglay, eds, The Nature of Inquisitorial Processes in Administrative Regimes – Global Perspectives (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2013).
- Shauna Labman “Queue the Rhetoric: Refugees, Resettlement and Reform” (2011) 62 UNBLJ 55.
- Amar Khoday, "Protecting Those Who Go Beyond The Law: Contemplating Refugee Status for Individuals Who Challenge Oppression Through Resistance” (2011) 25:3 Geo Immigr LJ 571.
- Shauna Labman, “Looking Back, Moving Forward: The History and Future of Refugee Protection” (2010) 10 Chicago-Kent Journal of International and Comparative Law.
- Shauna Labman, “Globalizing Rights and Going Wrong: Finding the ‘Right’ Path to Refugee Protection” (2009) 5:2 Journal of International Law and International Relations 141.
- Gerald Heckman,"Canada's Refugee Status Determination System and the International Norm of Independence" (2008) 25:2 Refuge 79.
- Shauna Labman, “Resettlement’s Renaissance: A Cautionary Advocacy” (2007) 24:2 Refuge 35.
- Gerald Heckman, “Procedural Safeguards in Deportation Proceedings – Developments in International Law” (2005) VII(3) Regulatory Boards and Administrative Law Litigation 418.
- Gerald Heckman, "International Law and Procedural Safeguards in Deportation Proceedings: Ahani v. Canada" (2004) 17:2 RQDI 81.
- Gerald Heckman, "Securing Procedural Standards for Asylum Seekers in Canadian Law: An Expanding Role for International Human Rights Law?" (2003) 15:2 Int’l J Refugee L 212.
- Shauna Labman, “Left in Legal Limbo: Transsexual Identity and the Law” (2001) 7 Appeal 66.
Doctoral Dissertations
- Amar Khoday, “Legitimizing Resistance? International Refugee Law and the Protection of Individuals Resisting Oppression” (DCL Thesis, McGill University Faculty of Law, 2013) (unpublished).
- Shauna Labman, “At Law’s Border: Unsettling Refugee Settlement” (PhD Dissertation, University of British Columbia Faculty of Law, 2012) {unpublished).
- Gerald Heckman, “Prospects For Narrowing The Gap Between Domestic and International Institutional and Procedural Safeguards in Canadian, American, and Australian Refugee Protection Decisionmaking” (PhD Dissertation, York University Osgoode Hall Law School, 2008) (unpublished).
Conferences and Public Engagements
- Amar Khoday, “'Homicide Is Foreign To Our Experience of Political Conflict’: Interrogating Judicial Constructions of the History of Political Violence in Refugee and Extradition Cases.” Presentation at the University of Manitoba’s Institute for the Humanities’ symposium – Alternate Histories, Winnipeg, Manitoba, March 7, 2018.
- Amar Khoday, “No Excuses: Should Asylum Seekers Be Barred From Accessing Refugee Status When Compelled to Provide ‘Material Support’ To Terrorist Organizations?” Presentation at the J.W. Dafoe Political Studies Students’ Conference, Winnipeg, Manitoba, January 24-26, 2018.
- Amar Khoday, “Re-Thinking Article 1F(a) and the Exclusion of Imperfect Soldiers.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Law and Society Association, Calgary, Alberta, May 28-30, 2016.
- Amar Khoday, “Re-Thinking Article 1F(a) and the Exclusion of Imperfect Soldiers.” Paper presented at the 9th annual conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, Winnipeg, Manitoba, May 11-14, 2016.
- Amar Khoday, “Re-Thinking Article 1F(a) and the Exclusion of Imperfect Soldiers.” Paper presented at the annual conference of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Justice Studies, Winnipeg, Manitoba, May 9-11, 2016.
- Gerald Heckman, “Revisiting the application of section 7 in immigration and refugee law.” Presentation at the 10th annual conference of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Toronto, Ontario, March 21, 2016.
- Amar Khoday, “Rethinking Boundaries: Expanding the Definition of ‘Political’ in Refugee Law.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Law and Society Association, Ottawa, Ontario, June 3-5, 2015.
- Amar Khoday, “Relationship of Refugee Law and International Humanitarian Law.” Presentation at the inaugural ICRC (Winnipeg) conference in International Humanitarian Law, Winnipeg, Manitoba, September 12, 2013.
- Amar Khoday, “Resisters, Terrorists, and the Political Crimes Exception.” Paper presented at the joint annual meeting of the Law and Society Association and Canadian Law and Society Association, Honolulu, USA, June 5-8, 2012.
- Amar Khoday, “Valorizing Disobedience Within The Ranks: Law and Resistance in Popular Culture.” Paper presented at the Law presented at the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association, San Francisco, USA, June 2-5, 2011.
Media
Op-Eds
- Shauna Labman, “8 months after Alan Kurdi’s body found, refugees the focus of Winnipeg events” CBC News (2 May 2016).
- Shauna Labman, “Refugee Program Should Not be Privatized” Winnipeg Free Press (9 October 2015).
- Sean Rehaag, Sharryn Aiken, Francois Crepeau, Catherine Dauvergne, Donald Galloway, Gerald Heckman, Nicole LaViolette and Audrey Macklin, "Legislation won’t stop asylum seekers using human smugglers" , Edmonton Journal (2 November 2010).
- Shauna Labman, “Refocus Concern for Refugees” Winnipeg Free Press (12 August 2009) A11.
Interviews
- Shauna Labman, Interview for “UofM, UMSU Sponsor Syrian Refugees” Shreya Ghimire, The Manitoban (19 January 2016).
- Shauna Labman, Interview for “Prioritization is not Exclusion, Say Experts” Florence Hwang, New Canadian Media (29 November 2015).
- Shauna Labman, Interview for “Compassion by the Book”, Carol Sanders, Winnipeg Free Press, (1 October 2015).