Queen’s University law prof Sharry Aiken is available today to discuss the Supreme Court of Canada decision to not hear Nell Toussaint’s leave application to determine her constitutional right to a waiver of the $550 application fee for the Humanitarian and Compassionate application.

Prof Aiken, an expert in refugee and immigration law, feels the decision effectively shuts the door on thousands of people seeking to regularize their immigration status.

“Nell Toussaint won the right to be considered for a fee waiver under Section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which the Harper government amended to preclude fee waivers in response to this litigation. The federal government did an end run around the judicial system to ensure that poor immigrants are denied access to the only remedy available for regularizing their status in Canada. Today the Supreme Court of Canada refused to right that wrong," says Prof Aiken.

Prof Aiken is in Toronto today and available on her cell phone at 416-529-0379 or by email at Aiken@queensu.ca.

To arrange an interview, please contact communication officer Michael Onesi at 613.533.6000 ext. 77513 or michael.onesi@queensu.ca Queen’s University News and Media Services Department in Kingston, Ont., Canada.

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