International Law

Julie Couillard, Member of the Immigration and Refugee Board?

By immlawyer

I was reading a globe and mail article - Christie Blatchford sat down with the (in)famous Julie Couillard, when the following leapt out at me:

The truth of her, or part of it, is that she is a ruthless pragmatist: She went after a job at the Immigration and Refugee Board, at Mr. Bernier's suggestion, because these are patronage jobs, and everyone knows it, so why not her? Same thing with her mother's job, on a body that hears complaints from unemployment insurance recipients. Bernard Côté, a former aide to former public works minister Michael Fortier (Mr. Côté quit when all this became public) suggested her mother apply; she did, and she got the job.

If this statement is accurate, then it means that the Immigration and Refugee Board has still not moved completely towards a true merit based appointment process. It also means that the IRB will continue to face difficulty and increased scrutiny in the decisions of those appointed through patronage.

The article talks about Ms. Couillards' work experience:

selling cars, waitressing, modelling, acting, studied hotel management and for a brief period, trained to be a dental hygienist

But unfortunately did not mention any legal experience or any in depth knowledge of refugee or immigration matters. What is sad is that it was entirely possible that such a person would be appointed as a decision maker presiding over the lives of the vulnerable.

Full post as published by Canadian Immigration Blawg on October 02, 2008 (boomark / email).