IMMIGRATION LAW REPORTER Third Series/Troisi`Eme S´Erie Recueil De Jurisprudence En Droit De L’Immigration VOLUME 97 (Cited 97 Imm
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IMMIGRATION LAW REPORTER Third Series/Troisi`eme s´erie Recueil de jurisprudence en droit de l’immigration VOLUME 97 (Cited 97 Imm. L.R. (3d)) EDITORS-IN-CHIEF/REDACTEURS´ EN CHEF Cecil L. Rotenberg, Q.C. Mario D. Bellissimo, LL.B. Barrister & Solicitor Ormston, Bellissimo, Rotenberg Don Mills, Ontario Toronto, Ontario Certified Specialist Certified Specialist ASSOCIATE EDITOR/REDACTEUR´ ADJOINT Randolph Hahn, D.PHIL.(OXON), LL.B. Guberman, Garson Toronto, Ontario Certified Specialist CARSWELL EDITORIAL STAFF/REDACTION´ DE CARSWELL Jeffrey D. Mitchell, B.A., M.A. Director, Information Management and Manufacturing Directeur, service d’´edition et de production Graham B. Peddie, LL.B. Product Development Manager Sharon Yale, LL.B., M.A. Julia Fischer, B.A.(HON.), LL.B. Supervisor, Legal Writing Acting Supervisor, Legal Writing Peter Bondy, B.A.(HON.), LL.B. Heather Stone, B.A., LL.B. Lead Legal Writer Lead Legal Writer Rachel Bernstein, B.A.(HON.), J.D. Peggy Gibbons, B.A.(HON.), LL.B. 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ISSN 0835-3808 ISBN 978-0-7798-0887-8 Printed in Canada by Thomson Reuters CARSWELL, A DIVISION OF THOMSON REUTERS CANADA LIMITED One Corporate Plaza Customer Relations 2075 Kennedy Road Toronto 1-416-609-3800 Toronto, Ontario Elsewhere in Canada/U.S. 1-800-387-5164 M1T 3V4 Fax 1-416-298-5082 www.carswell.com E-mail www.carswell.com/email Mavi v. Canada (Attorney General) 173 [Indexed as: Mavi v. Canada (Attorney General)] Attorney General of Canada, Appellant and Pritpal Singh Mavi, Maria Cristina Jatuff de Altamirano, Nedzad Dzihic, Rania El- Murr, Oleg Grankin, Raymond Hince, Homa Vossoughi and Hamid Zebaradami, Respondents Attorney General of Ontario, Appellant and Pritpal Singh Mavi, Maria Cristina Jatuff de Altamirano, Nedzad Dzihic, Rania El- Murr, Oleg Grankin, Raymond Hince, Homa Vossoughi and Hamid Zebaradami, Respondents and South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, Canadian Council for Refugees, Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence against Women and Children and Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Interveners Supreme Court of Canada Docket: 33520 2011 SCC 30 McLachlin C.J.C., Binnie, LeBel, Deschamps, Fish, Abella, Charron, Rothstein, Cromwell JJ. Heard: December 9, 2010 Judgment: June 10, 2011 Immigration and citizenship –––– Admission — Immigrants — Family class — Dependent family member –––– Sponsors brought applications to sponsor family members for entry to Canada and signed required undertakings promising to provide for relatives’ needs and to ensure relatives would not re- quire social assistance during sponsorship period — Immigration Act and its successor Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) provided that amount of social assistance paid to relative during sponsorship period was debt owed by sponsor to government and that debt “may be recovered” either by federal or provincial government that made payment — Ontario sought repay- ment — Eight sponsors claimed they were unable to pay due to circumstances beyond their control — Sponsors brought application for declaration discharging them from debt — Application was dismissed — Trial judge found that IRPA did not impose obligation on government to consider sponsors’ circumstances on case-by-case basis — Trial judge found that Parliament intended to simplify debt enforcement and did not intend there to be formalized process — Use of “may be recovered” did not require exercise of discretion or give rise to duty of procedural fairness — Sponsors appealed — Appeal was allowed — Trial judge erred in finding that words “may be recovered” were merely enabling and did not also confer discretion on governments — Federal and provincial govern- 174 IMMIGRATION LAW REPORTER 97 Imm. L.R. (3d) ments have case-by-case discretion whether to enforce