
Canadian immigration law, from files to courts.
The gist
Borderlines tracks Canadian immigration law as it moves through courts, agencies, and application delays. Its episodes range from practitioner-focused mandamus analysis to looser citizenship-test banter and national-security conversations.
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About Borderlines
Borderlines is a Canadian immigration law show with a close eye on the machinery behind migration decisions. It follows statutes, regulations, court rulings, departmental practice, and the constitutional arguments that shape who can enter, stay, move, or wait in Canada. The show is often technical. That is part of its value. Recent episodes spend serious time on mandamus, including a Federal Court of Appeal decision involving Robert Benison and the RCMP, and how its reasoning may matter for immigration delay cases. Other conversations track IRCC security screening, partner-agency referrals, service standards, ATIP statistics, and the frustration of applicants left in long administrative limbo. The show also turns toward larger public-law questions. Episodes examine Section 6 mobility rights under the Charter, provincial nominee obligations, Quebec investor movement, rural settlement proposals, and the tension between policy design and constitutional protection. Citizenship is another recurring lane. One lighter episode has the regular speakers testing themselves on IRCC citizenship study questions, mixing civic history, uncertainty, and legal self-awareness. Another episode works through Canadian ancestry, lost Canadians, gendered nationality rules, legal fictions, and Section 15 Charter concerns. Borderlines is not only about paperwork. It also addresses transnational repression, foreign interference, covert work for foreign governments, and how national-security concepts meet immigration screening. Phil Gurski's appearance brings an intelligence-world frame to those questions. Lev Abramovich's episode gives the security-delay discussion a sharper practitioner edge. The show's style is conversational, direct, and sometimes dryly funny, but it does not sand down complexity. It assumes listeners can handle legal vocabulary. It also explains enough context for a motivated non-specialist to follow. The appeal lies in hearing Canadian immigration law discussed as an active field, full of discretion, delay, litigation risk, and competing rights claims. Borderlines is best for listeners who want the legal reasons beneath immigration news, especially when those reasons are buried in court paragraphs, agency standards, or parliamentary compromises.
Made for: Borderlines suits immigration practitioners, applicants facing delays, policy watchers, law students, and Canadians following rights-based debates around citizenship, mobility, security, and enforcement.
What sets it apart: It combines practitioner-level legal analysis with candid conversational testing of how rules work in real cases. The show is unusually comfortable moving between court doctrine, agency process, Charter litigation, and national-security screening.
In their own words
A podcast for the discussion of Canadian immigration law and policy, although we often delve into other topics. Each episode features 2-3 lawyers, academics, politicians, and stakeholders discussing current migration issues. Hosted by Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff, two immigration lawyers in Vancouver, British Columbia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Episodes
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#211 - Security Screening for Transnational Repression, with Retired CSIS Analyst Phil Gurski
Hidden gemBorderlines' April 2, 2026 episode centers on transnational repression in Canada, and the host frames it around Phil Gurski's report for the Montreal Institute for Global Security.
Apr 7, 2026·58m·5 clips - 2
#210 - Would You Pass the Citizenship Test?
Hidden gemBorderlines spends March 27, 2026 on the Canadian citizenship test, which the hosts say is 20 multiple-choice questions, requires 15 correct answers to pass, and can be taken in English, French, Braille, American Sign Language, Quebec Sign Language, in person, online, or on Microsoft Teams.
Mar 31, 2026·36m·3 clips - 3
#209 - Huge Mandamus Decision by the Federal Court of Appeal
A Canadian immigration law podcast discusses a significant Federal Court of Appeal decision on mandamus applications for delayed immigration applications.
Mar 25, 2026·17m - 4
#208 - Proving Canadian Ancestry, with Amandeep Hayer and Lisa Middlemiss
Hidden gemBorderlines on March 13, 2026, centers a Canadian citizenship-by-descent episode about proving ancestry.
Mar 16, 2026·57m·4 clips - 5
#207 - Mobility Rights Under the Charter
This episode discusses the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Taylor v.
Mar 12, 2026·17m·1 clip - 6
#206 - The Importance of the Canadian Senate, with Senator Paula Simons
Mar 11, 2026·38m - 7
#205 - Former CBSA Chief On Immigration Investigations & Removal Priorities
Mar 9, 2026·56m - 8
#204 - Stop Bill C-12! With Sharry Aiken
Mar 6, 2026·41m - 9
#203 - New Express Entry Manager Category (2026): Who Actually Qualifies — and Who Doesn’t
Mar 5, 2026·7m - 10
#201 - IRCC’s Security Screening Delays: Causes, Timelines, and Legal Impacts
Mar 3, 2026·16m - 11
#202 - The Emergencies Act and the Freedom Convoy
Borderlines host Steve and Josh DeHaas of the Canadian Constitution Foundation examine the January-February 2022 Freedom Convoy and the Federal Court of Appeal’s Emergencies Act decision.
Feb 24, 2026·45m·3 clips - 12
#200 - Building a Corporate Immigration Law Practice
Feb 17, 2026·57m - 13
#199 - Is Canada’s Population Decline Good for the Economy?
Feb 9, 2026·54m - 14
#198 - How Decisions Get Written, with Justice Peter Edelmann
Feb 3, 2026·1h 8m - 15
#197 - New World Order
Jan 26, 2026·30m - 16
#196 - Canada’s Healthcare Crisis & Immigration, with Dr. Brian Day
Jan 19, 2026·52m - 17
#195 - 2026 Predictions for Canadian Immigration Law
Jan 12, 2026·1h 2m - 18
#194 - Are You Now a Canadian
Dec 22, 2025·1h - 19
#193 - Evacuate
Dec 16, 2025·1h 5m - 20
#192 - Preventing Study Permit Refusals
Dec 10, 2025·28m - 21
#191 - Suing Immigration Representatives
Dec 2, 2025·46m - 22
#190 - Express Entry Refusals
Nov 25, 2025·46m - 23
#189 - The 2026–2028 Levels Plan: Behind the Numbers
Nov 17, 2025·56m - 24
#188 - Retired CSIS Analyst Phil Gurski on Immigration Security Screening
Nov 10, 2025·1h 11m - 25
#187 - IRCC is Watching
Nov 3, 2025·48m - 26
#186 - Retired IRCC Program Manager, Greg Chubak
Oct 27, 2025·1h 3m - 27
#185 - Lorne Waldman: Landmark Cases to Today's Immigration Crisis
Oct 20, 2025·1h 8m - 28
#184 - Retired CBSA Chief of Enforcement & Intelligence Operations, Christian Lane
Oct 14, 2025·1h - 29
#183 - Failing Afghanistan's Heroes
Oct 7, 2025·1h 1m - 30
#182 - Here to Stay
Sep 30, 2025·54m - 31
#181 - Fifty Year Processing Time
Sep 22, 2025·51m - 32
#180 - Collapsing Numbers
Sep 16, 2025·51m - 33
#179 - Abolish the Foreign Worker Program?
Sep 8, 2025·55m - 34
#178 - Constitutional Protections in the Canadian Immigration field
Aug 27, 2025·1h 1m - 35
#177 - Agents, Fees, and Broken Promises
Aug 19, 2025·44m - 36
#176 - Canadian Immigration in 2027
Aug 12, 2025·55m - 37
#175 - August Crimmigration Updates
Aug 5, 2025·1h 2m - 38
#174 - Bill C-2, Carney's Big Beautiful Border Bill
Jul 29, 2025·1h 1m - 39
#173 - Bill C-3 - Expanding Canadian Citizenship by Descent
Jul 22, 2025·52m - 40
[Repost] #43 - An Interview with John McCallum, Canada's Immigration Minister from 2015-2017
An interview with John McCallum, Canada's Immigration Minister from 2015-2017, discussing his tenure and key policy changes.
Jul 11, 2025·1h 7m - 41
#172 - Fast vs. Slow: Immigration's Impact on Canada's Economy & Regions, with Daniel Hiebert
Jul 7, 2025·1h 2m - 42
#171 - Express Entry AMA with Kubeir Kamal and Tamara Mosher-Kuczer
An Ask Me Anything panel on Express Entry with immigration experts Kubeir Kamal and Tamara Mosher-Kuczer, discussing predictions and past recaps.
Jun 30, 2025·1h 4m - 43
#170 - Getting Divorced in Canada, with Ari Wormelli
A family lawyer and mediator discusses messy divorces and various family law topics in Canada.
Jun 24, 2025·59m - 44
#169 - H&C Applications, with Raj Sharma and Hannah Lindy
Raj Sharma and Hannah Lindy discuss H&C applications for Canadian immigration.
Jun 23, 2025·56m - 45
#168 - Judicial Review AMA
Lev Abramovich and the host discuss an AMA on judicial review, including questions from a recent immigration consultant conference.
Jun 11, 2025·1h 2m - 46
#167 - A Life in Immigration Law: Gordon Maynard on Collegiality, Discretion, and Staying Human
Jun 4, 2025·1h 7m - 47
#166 - The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Jun 2, 2025·1h 4m - 48
#165 - Is Canada soft on crime? with Kyla Lee
May 30, 2025·51m - 49
#164 - Inadmissibility for Human Rights Violations
May 27, 2025·1h 4m - 50
#163 - Mini Flash Update on Work Permit Issues
May 13, 2025·41m