Ontario immigration lawyers defend colleague against Kenney

Over 80 immigration lawyers have signed an open letter to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, the Globe and Mail reports, in defence of a colleague who suggested that Mr. Kenney had a role in Conrad Black’s controversial temporary residence permit and was later reported by an aide of Kenney’s to the Law Society of Upper Canada for professional misconduct.

In 2001, Conrad Black famously renounced his Canadian citizenship to pursue a British peerage, but was granted a Canadian temporary resident permit in 2011, while he was still serving time in a Florida prison. Toronto lawyer Guidy Mamann told journalists this summer that he found it improbable that such a major decision was made without the minister’s input, and was later censured by Kenney.

The signatories of the letter also agree it was “not credible” that Black received the permit without the help of Kenney’s office, and that they found Kenney’s attempt to suppress Mamann’s freedom of expression “reprehensible”

Kenney’s spokeswoman, Ana Curic, told reporters that the signatories have no proof of Kenney’s involvement in Black’s permit, and that their accusations show they have a “warped sense of professionalism and legal ethics”.