The McLaughlin Lunch Talk series will present a book launch event for The Criminalization of Migration: Context and Consequences on Dec. 5 and feature a number of the book’s contributors for a panel discussion.
Panellists will examine the growing phenomenon of criminalization of migration, not only in Canada but abroad. York University Professor James Simeon will be the moderator for panellists Joseph Rihkof, an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Common Law at the University of Ottawa, and Nancy Weisman, an Osgoode alumni and senior counsel to the Immigration Division at the Immigration & Refugee Board of Canada.
With an estimated 260 million migrants in the world today, including more than 68.5 million of those who are forcibly displaced, states have turned to draconian measures to try to stem the flow of irregular migration, including the criminalization of migration itself.
“Crimmigration,” or the “criminalization of migration,” involves the use of criminal law measures, public policies and practices that stigmatize, marginalize and diminish or undermine the rights of those who are forcibly displaced. Canada has not been immune from these practices, despite its reputation of being one of the most open immigrant and refugee receiving states in the world.
Simeon is the head of McLaughlin College and an associate professor in the School of Public Policy & Administration (SPPA), Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, York University. He is a member-at-large of the Executive of the Canadian Association for Refugee & Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS) and a past president of CARFMS. He also serves as the co-ordinator of the International Association of Refugee & Migration Judges (IARMJ) Inter-Conference Working Party Process. His primary areas of research are international refugee law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and public policy and public administration
Rikhof is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Common Law at the University of Ottawa, where he teaches the course International Criminal Law. Until his retirement in early 2017, he was also a senior counsel at the Crimes Against Humanity & War Crimes section of the federal Department of Justice. His expertise lies with the law related to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially as practised at the domestic level and in the context of immigration and refugee law.
Weisman is senior counsel to the Immigration Division at the Immigration & Refugee Board of Canada. She has an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School and a BA from the University of Manitoba. She is a member of the Law Society of Ontario. She has lectured extensively on issues pertaining to immigration and refugee law, in particular on war crimes and crimes against humanity, at various conferences throughout Canada, at Osgoode Hall Law School and York University, and at the Law Society of Ontario.
The event runs Dec. 5 from noon to 1:40 p.m. in the Senior Common Room, 140 McLaughlin College. Light refreshments will be provided.
For more information, contact Vicky Carnevale at ext. 33824 or vcarneva@yorku.ca.