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Adrienne Smith and Deanna Okun-Nachoff
April 21, 2026 at 12:00pm EST
$90
3 hours
Attend Live Online and On-Demand Recording
This course provides a detailed and practice-focused examination of Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) applications for long-term undocumented residents and other clients who are ineligible under regular immigration programs. Participants will explore the statutory framework under section 25 of the IRPA, the legal test established by Kanthasamy, and the circumstances in which H&C relief may or may not be available. The program guides practitioners through eligibility, prohibitions, evidence, drafting strategy, ethical obligations, and Federal Court jurisprudence, equipping them to assess risk, build persuasive submissions, and advise clients realistically in high-stakes, last-resort permanent residence cases.
• Section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
• Appropriate use of Manuals, Program Delivery Instructions and Operational Bulletins
• Foreign nationals inside Canada
• Foreign nationals outside Canada
• Prohibitions and temporal barriers to applications
• Scope of H&C discretion
• Exclusions from consideration
• Supreme Court case of Kanthasamy
• How to apply
• What can be waived
• Applications for permanent residence
• Processing times
• How to apply
• What can be waived
• Processing times
• Family separation
• Best interests of the child
• De facto family relationships
• Country of origin conditions
• Establishment in Canada
• Pros and cons of the process
• Client priorities
• Removal proceedings
• Inadmissibility (ex. misrepresentation; criminality)
• Ethical considerations – merits of the case, counselling on chances of success, competency, seeking mentoring, setting fees, the retainer agreement, knowing the client, joint retainer where multiple family members are applying, confronting the client with inconsistencies and implausibilities
• Admissible evidence
• Use of Affidavits
• Insufficiency of evidence
• Ethical considerations – confronting the client when evidence seems suspicious, suggesting improvements vs. manufacturing evidence, verifying evidence
• What factors will be considered
• What factors may be considered
• Identify strengths
• Identify weaknesses
• Identify evidence
• Keeping the legal test in mind
• Structure of submissions
• Order of arguments
• Addressing weaknesses
• Simplicity/plain language
• Critical thinking
• Don’t exaggerate
• Dealing with procrastination
• Ethical considerations – supervision of staff and students, duty of candour/honesty
• Relevant case law applicable to H&C applications
• How does case law define it
• How far does it extend
• Dealing with the client through interpreters/translators
• Confidentiality and family members
• Ensuring your client is kept apprised
• Getting instructions from your client
• Optional and mandatory withdrawal of services
• Lack of evidence
• Presumptions
• Failure to connect evidence to facts
• Lack of persuasion
• Permanent resident cases
• Admissibility
• Reconsideration
• Reapplication
• Judicial Review
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B.A., M.A., J.D.
Principal Lawyer, Smith Immigration Law
Adrienne has a full-service legal practice with expertise in litigation and administrative appeals. Adrienne’s firm website can be found here. Her legal experience is concentrated in matters before Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the Federal Court and the Immigration and Refugee Board.
She regularly represents clients with all types of permanent and temporary applications to Canada, including medical and criminal inadmissibility issues, sponsorship applications and appeals, refugee claims and appeals, Federal Court applications, humanitarian and compassionate applications, study and visitor visas, and detention reviews.
Adrienne has been invited as an expert to speak on medical inadmissibility before Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, which monitor’s federal immigration policies.
She is an Instructor with Ryerson’s Faculty of Law and the University of British Columbia’s Continuing Education Program. Adrienne has been invited to speak as a guest lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law and York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies.
Partner and Lawyer, Evolution Law Group
Deanna has been working in the immigration field for over 20 years, and has recently founded Evolution Law Group – to further focus her work on strategic litigation aimed at redressing systemic injustices in the immigration system. She started her career in the non-profit sector serving the needs of foreign live-in caregivers. Her current practice focuses on litigation and permanent migration to Canada, especially for those seeking to overcome admissibility and eligibility barriers. She represents refugees, foreign nationals and permanent residents at all levels of the IRB and at the Federal Court. Deanna runs a trauma-informed practice and has extensive experience assisting victims of domestic violence and undocumented workers.
Deanna speaks at various conferences and for grassroots organizations and has been an active volunteer with the Canadian Bar Association’s national immigration section, where she has served in various executive positions over the years, including that of section Chair. She also co-hosts Borderlines, a weekly podcast and YouTube show on immigration and other topical social justice issues.
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Absolutely. Every LPEN course is recorded, and the recording is added to your account within a few business days. You can log in anytime to watch it on demand and still receive your digital certificate of completion.
LPEN seeks accreditation for each course from the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) and the Law Society of Ontario (LSO),the Law Society of BC (LSBC) when applicable. Accreditation details and approved CPD hours are listed in the CPD Credits section on each course page, so you can easily confirm how the course qualifies toward your professional development requirements.
A digital certificate of completion will be available once the course recording has been uploaded. After that, you can follow the steps at the top of your My Courses page—where you’ll also find a short video explaining how to download your certificate. Be sure to save it as part of your documentation for your CPD hours.
This course may be included in one or several LPEN Passes. Passes offer discounted rates and access to multiple courses, making CPD compliance simpler. Check out our Passes page to see where it is included.
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