Course Chairs
Darryl W. Larson — Embarkation Law Corporation, Vancouver
Sandra E. Weafer — Department of Justice Canada, Vancouver
About the Course Chairs
Darryl Larson has been practicing law since 1977, for the first 11 years as a lawyer in Alberta, and for the last 29 years as an immigration lawyer in Vancouver, BC. He continues to practice with Embarkation Law Corporation in the areas of Canadian citizenship and immigration law. Darryl has represented clients in the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, all levels of court in both British Columbia and Alberta, and at the Supreme Court of Canada. Darryl is a past chair and vice-chair of the Immigration Section of the BC Branch of the CBA and a former member of the Executive of the National Immigration Section. He has participated as an instructor at many immigration continuing legal education seminars over the course of his career at both the local, provincial, and national level, and has co-chaired the annual CLEBC course Immigration Issues in Depth since 2003. In these capacities, Darryl has had extensive dealings with immigration officials at most overseas posts and local and national immigration offices. He has successfully helped clients from all over the world obtain permanent residence status in Canada, whether as business, independent, or family class applicants, or in hearings, appeals, and court challenges in Canada.
Sandra Weafer was called to the bar in 1990. She clerked at the BC Court of Appeal and articled and later practiced at what was then Ladner Downs. In 1993 she joined the Department of Justice where her practice has been almost exclusively in the administrative law area – mostly immigration and some corrections law. Sandra has appeared at all levels of court in BC, including both the BC and the Federal Court of Appeal. Currently Sandra is a Regional Director in the Public Safety, Defence and Immigration Section at the BC Regional Office of the Department of Justice, where she is responsible for a team of approximately 45 lawyers who practice in a wide variety of areas related to immigration, border services, policing, and corrections. She has been a frequent speaker for CLEBC and the CBA, and is the past chair of the CBA’s National Immigration Law conference. In addition to volunteering with CLEBC, Sandra volunteers with the Law Society of BC as a non-bencher member of the pool to sit on Law Society hearings.
Faculty
The Honourable Chief Justice Paul Crampton — Federal Court, Ottawa
Laura A. Best — Embarkation Law Corporation, Vancouver
Judith Boer — Edelmann & Company Law Offices, Vancouver
Mark East — Department of Justice Canada, Vancouver
Theressa Etmanski — Elgin, Cannon & Associates, Vancouver
Keith Evans — Ministry of Justice, Vancouver
Timothy Fairgrieve — Department of Justice Canada, Vancouver
Douglas Fortney — Assistant Deputy Chairperson, Refugee Appeal Division, Western Region, IRB, Vancouver
Maryanne Kingma — Assistant Deputy Chairperson, Immigration Appeal Division, Western Region, IRB, Vancouver
Darryl W. Larson — Embarkation Law Corporation, Vancouver
Dennis G. McCrea — McCrea Immigration Law, Vancouver
Steven Meurrens — Larlee Rosenberg, Vancouver
Karin Michnick — Assistant Deputy Chairperson, Refugee Protection Division, Western Region, IRB, Vancouver
Helen Park — Department of Justice Canada, Vancouver
Warren Puddicombe — Elgin, Cannon & Associates, Vancouver
Banafsheh Sokhansanj — Department of Justice Canada, Vancouver
Alice Tang — Assistant Deputy Chairperson, Immigration Division, Western Region, IRB, Vancouver
Sandra E. Weafer — Department of Justice Canada, Vancouver