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Criminal Equivalency Analysis 2024

Live webinar
OR available video recording

Samuel Plett

4 hours

Summary

This course will examine in detail criminal inadmissibility under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (‘IRPA). The course will begin by examining the relevant statutory provisions and jurisprudence and provide practice examples from real-life scenarios. The course will address common ethical questions that arise in cases dealing with criminal admissibility, with a special focus on the duty of disclosure.

Course outline

  • Legislative Structure
    • The structure of s. 36 of the IRPA
  • Determining the Nature of the Conviction and the Length of the Sentence
    • Classification of criminal offences (summary, indictable, hybrid)
    • What counts as a conviction? (examining various types of sentences)
    • What counts as part of “term of imprisonment”?
    • The impact of the Tran case (Tran v Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), [2017] 2 SCR 289, 2017 SCC 50)
  • Ethical Issues Part 1: Assessing the Nature of the Criminal Offence
  • The “Equivalency” Analysis
    • When do we need to determine ‘equivalency’?
    • Survey of jurisprudence on the equivalency analysis
    • The 3-part Hill test
    • Equivalency case study #1
    • The “committing an act” provisions
    • Equivalency case study #2
  • Record Suspensions and Effect of Foreign Pardons
  • Criminal Rehabilitation
  • Ethical Issues Part 2: Challenges of disclosure

CPD credits

For Lawyers and Paralegals

Law Society of Ontario

Your Instructor

Samuel Plett

Litigation Consultant and Principal, Plett Law P.C.

Sam is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. Prior to law school, Sam studied Peace and Conflict Studies at the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, the Refugee Lawyers Association, and the Canadian Bar Association.

​Sam has experience in a wide variety of immigration matters, including applications involving inadmissibility matters, humanitarian and compassionate applications, pre-removal risk assessments, family sponsorship applications, temporary resident permits, and applications for work and study permits. Sam has extensive experience with applications for Judicial Review before the Federal Court of Canada, including applications involving constitutional challenges and motions for stays of removal; and has appeared before the Federal Court of Appeal. Sam has appeared before all three Divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board in various matters including refugee hearings, appeals before the Immigration Appeal Division, and detention reviews.

​Prior to his work at Plett Law Professional Corporation, Sam was a Partner and Head of Litigation at Desloges Law Group.

​In 2015, Sam received the Canadian Bar Association Immigration Law Section Founders’ Award, given to a young lawyer “for achieving professional excellence, providing leadership, and making a significant contribution to the Canadian citizenship & immigration community”.

​As a law student, Sam was awarded the Ting Sum Tang Memorial Prize (awarded to the student taking the highest place in Immigration Law) and the John Yaremko Award in Human Rights.

Single course
$120

What is included

Purchasing options

This course has an updated version!

This course ran in October 2024. Its CPD approval has expired, and a current version is available.