Jamie Chai Yun Liew

Jamie Chai Yun Liew
Jamie Chai Yun Liew
Full Professor

LL.B. (University of Ottawa)
M.A. (Carleton University)
LL.M. (Columbia University)
B.A. and B.Com. (University of Calgary)

Room
FTX 324
Phone
Office: 613-562-5800 ext. 7744
Office: 613-562-5124


Biography

Jamie Chai Yun Liew joined the Faculty of Law (Common Law Section) in 2011. She is an expert in immigration, refugee and citizenship law, as well as administrative law and public law.

Jamie’s current research examines the meaning of citizenship, legal barriers for stateless persons to obtain citizenship/nationality, gendered implications of Canadian law on migrants, and how Canada’s immigration and refugee system marginalizes those navigating the process. She is currently completing a book manuscript on statelessness and the law.

Jamie is the co-author (with Donald Galloway) of Immigration Lawpublished by Irwin Law.

Jamie holds degrees in law, international affairs (NPSIA), commerce, and political science. She was called to the Law Society of Ontario in 2006. After articling at a national full-service law firm in Toronto, Jamie clerked for Justice Douglas Campbell at the Federal Court, was a member of the Issa Sesay defence team at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and was Commission Counsel at the Cornwall Public Inquiry. In 2007, Jamie opened a feminist legal practice with a colleague and practiced in a variety of areas including administrative law. She continues to practice immigration and refugee law today as a sole practitioner.

Jamie has appeared at the Supreme Court of Canada as co-counsel representing an intervener in the following cases:

  1. Canadian Counsel for Refugees in Kanthasamy v Canada, 2015 SCC 61;
  2. Amnesty International in Canada v Chhina, 2019 SCC 29; and
  3. Canadian Council for Refugees in Canada v Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65.

The Supreme Court of Canada has cited her work in Kanthasamy v Canada, 2015 SCC 61.

She has also appeared before the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Canada, and the Immigration and Refugee Board, among others. Jamie is a member of the litigation committee for the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR).

Jamie teaches or has taught Immigration Law, Advanced Refugee Law, Public Law and Legislation, Administrative Law, Torts and a special seminar course titled, “Providing Legal and Medical Services to Refugees”. In the 2020-2021 academic year, Jamie will be teaching a new seminar, "Statelessness and the Law".

Jamie tweets about current affairs @thechaiyun.

A frequent commenter in media, Jamie won the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section 2018-19 Public Engagement Award: Media Relations.

Jamie also is the winner of the 2018 Asian Canadian Writers Workshop (ACWW) Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writer Award for her manuscript titled, Dandelion Roots..

List of Selected Publications

Coming in March: Jamie Chai Yun Liew, "The Invisible Women: Migrant and Immigrant Sex Workers and Law Reform in Canada" (2020) 14:1 Studies in Social Justice.

Coming in March: Jamie Chai Yun Liew, "The Law's Broken Promises to Stateless Persons" (2020) Brown Journal of World Affairs.

Coming soon: Jamie Liew, Pia Zambelli, Pierre-André Thériault, Maureen Silcoff, "Not Just the Luck of the Draw? Exploring Competency of Counsel and other Qualitative Factors in Federal Court Refugee Leave Determinations (2005-2010)" (2020) Refuge.  

Jamie Chai Yun Liew, “Homegrown Statelessness in Malaysia and the Promise of the Principle of Genuine and Effective Links” (2019) 1:1 Statelessness and Citizenship Review (accepted and proofs completed).

Shauna Labman & Jamie Chai Yun Liew, “Law and Moral Licensing: The making of illegality and illegitimacy along the border” (2019) 5:1 International Journal of Migration and Border Studies 188-211.

Y.Y. Brandon Chen, Vanessa Gruben and Jamie Liew, "A Legacy of Confusion: An Exploratory Study of Service Provision under the Reinstated Interim Federal Health Program" (2018) 34:2 Refuge 94.

Jamie Chai Yun Liew, “Denying Refugee Protection to LGBTQ and Marginalized Persons: A Retrospective Look at State Protection in Canadian Refugee Law” (2017) 29:2 Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 290.

Jamie Liew, Prasanna Balasundaram and Jennifer Stone, "Troubling Trends in Excluding Family Members Via Regulation 117(9)(d): A Survey of Jurisprudence and Lawyers" (2017) 26 Journal of Law and Social Policy 112.

Jamie Chai Yun Liew, “The Ultrahazardous Activity of Excluding Family Members in Canada’s Immigration System” (2016) 94:2 Canadian Bar Review 281-308.

Jamie Liew & Donald Galloway, Immigration Law, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2015).

Jamie Liew,  “Migrants, Mental Health and Illness” in Law & Mind: Mental Health Law and Policy in Canada, Flood, C & J Chandler, eds. (Toronto: LexisNexis, 2015).

Jamie Liew, “Finding Order in Calgary’s Cash Corner: Using Legal Pluralism to Craft Legal Remedies for Conflicts Involving Marginalized Persons in Public Spaces” (2015) 52(3) Alberta Law Review 605.

Jamie Liew, “Taking it Personally: Delimiting Gender-Based Claims using the Complementary Protection Provision in Canada’s Refugee Definition” (2014) 26(2) Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 300.

Jamie Liew, “Finding Common Ground: Charter Remedies and Challenges for Marginalized persons in Public Spaces” (2012) 1(1) Canadian Journal of Poverty Law 1.

Jamie Liew, “Beyond Country of Origin: Smith v Canada and Refugees from Unexpected Places” (2011) 23(1) Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 686.

Jamie Liew, “Creating Higher Burdens: The Presumption of State Protection in Democratic Countries” (2009) 26(2) Refuge 207

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