Sean Rehaag

Headlines from news stories: ACLU: New Filings Detail Harrowing Accounts of ICE and Border Patrol Violence and Intimidation Against Minnesotans CBC: Federal Judge accuses Trump administration of "terror" against immigrants, vacates ruling on mass detention NBC: ICE plans to build mega warehouses for immigration detention spark growing concern THE GUARDIAN: White House grants ICE power to detain refugees for aggressive "rescreening"

The country that Canada's Supreme Court calls "safe" for refugees...

Image of an email with the text: Dear Mr. Rehaag, Your Federation of Law Societies of Canada contact form submission has been referred to me for response. CanLII is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Federation. It provides reports to the Federation, but these reports are internal and are not made available to the public. Thank you for writing. Nathalie Ghuman Chief Financial Officer Federation of Law Societies of Canada

I asked the Federation of Law Societies for annual reports for @canlii.bsky.social

They responded that these are secret

CanLII's terms of use prohibit researchers & technologists from using bulk legal data to advance A2J

What might the reports reveal about why they do that?

Screenshot of CBC News story with the headline: "Trump threatens 100$ tariffs on all Canadian goods if Canada 'makes a deal with China'

Who cares?

1 Nothing Trump says should be taken seriously

2 There's no point in pursuing trade deals with a US admin that breaks treaties

3 The sooner we reduce economic dependency on the US the better - and if the US wants to pay higher taxes / prices to help us do that, fine

Table with logos for Hugging Face and Access to Algorithmic Justice. The table lists the courts covered by the canadian-case-law dataset, with BCCA, BCSC and YKCA highlighted. Accessible version of the table available via link.

I'm pleased to report that we have expanded the open source A2AJ.ca Canadian Case Law dataset to include the full text of 60,000 BCCA, BCSC, and YKCA decisions.

They're available programmatically via API & MCP -- and for bulk download via Hugging Face datasets:

github.com/a2aj-ca/cana...

Lots of courts & tribunals do this without realizing that (a) CanLII is actually the for-profit legal data company Lexum; (b) CanLII/Lexum claim copyright over the data the courts provide them; and (c) CanLII/Lexum monetize that data. See: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Attempting to negotiate an international trade agreement with a delusional US President who has no respect for international (or domestic) law is a waste of time

The only real option is to diversify trading partners & build alliances with actual liberal democracies

Screenshot of SSHRC website, indicating: "The SSHRC on-line system is experiencing intermittent technical issues. We are working to resolve the issue. Thank you for your patience.."

Frustrating. Seems to happen every year when any big grant deadline approaches. It impacts not just those working at the last minute on those grants, but everyone working on any application. Any planned solutions @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca?

Cover page for Access To Algorithmic Justice Working Paper. Accessible text via link.

...and my a2aj.ca project released a working paper by @simonwallace.bsky.social and me about bulk access to Canadian legal data, the role of @canlii.bsky.social, & our new open-source alternative (a2aj.ca/canadian-legal-data)

Paper is here:

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Cover image for a report entitled "From Surveillance to Empowerment: Advancing the Responsible Use of Technology in Alternatives to Detention" Accessible text via link

A busy week...

My @refugeelab.ca released our report about tech and alternatives to immigration detention, co-authored by @danghez.bsky.social & @petramolnar.com, and co-published with @kaldorcentre.bsky.social and @idcoalition.bsky.social:

www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/...

Screenshot from Access to Algorithmic Justice webpage (link in text): Student Innovation Grants Overview $10 000 to Build Open-Source Access to Justice Tools The Access to Algorithmic Justice (A2AJ) Student Innovation Grants Program is a competitive funding opportunity of $10, 000 for graduate students in any relevant discipline and JD students looking to build open-source tools that advance access to justice. This program provides funding for qualifying technology projects that expand, enhance and utilize the A2AJ’s open-source datasets to advance access to justice. Funding Details & Key Dates Eligibility Requirements About A2AJ and Available Datasets Example Projects Evaluation Criteria How to Apply Questions & Information Session Grant at a glance Funding: $10,000 per project Available: 5 grants Deadline: November 3, 2025 Team size: 1–4 students Deliverable: Build a working tool / dataset / prototype Upcoming info session – join email list Apply now

Hey Canadian JD students, and graduate students in any relevant discipline (including computer science, software engineering, data science):

Interested in $10,000 to build open-source access to justice tools?

a2aj.ca/student-inno...

Screenshot of email conference invitation with the following text: LSA 2026 Annual Meeting Submissions Now Open! >> Click Here to Visit our 2026 Conference Website! >> Submit an Abstract or Session! Dear Sean, We are pleased to invite you to participate in the 2026 LSA Annual Meeting that will take place in San Francisco, California, USA from May 28-31, 2026! The meeting will be hosted at the Hilton Union Square. This year’s sessions will take place in-person. The deadline for our Call for Submissions is October 21, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. ET (USA and Canada). The Program Committee welcomes any scholar studying sociolegal activities to submit an individual paper or session proposal. We recommend scholars interested in proposing a session with a creative format to consult with the Program Committee and the LSA Executive Office (melissa.king@lawandsociety.org) in advance of submitting their proposal.

Yeah, no thanks @lawandsociety.bsky.social

I mean, I love SF

But even if I was willing to spend $ in the US right now, travel to the US is not safe for anyone publicly critical of Trump -- which includes all law & society scholars who I would want to engage with

Sounds like a great course

But the US has always been like this: rights for some, and not others. All that changes is the target

Think Japanese internment under FDR

Or the lavender/red scares a few years later

Or Chile, Guatemala, Nicaragua

Or slavery, segregation, etc, etc

Screenshot of a CanLII case with footnote 31 highlighted and a hand-drawn smiling face with two exclamation points. The footnote reads: "The learned judge, having mislaid his judgment, directed the reporter to report the case without it."

Edge case when parsing case SCC judgments:

In 8 SCR 474, Justice Strong (later Chief Justice Strong) wrote a judgment, "mislaid" it, and told the reporter just to report the case without the judgment:

www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/do...

Interesting.

I like @caryscraig.bsky.social's take on this: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

I have lots of concerns about AI, but I don't think copyright law is the way to address those concerns -- and I think academics should publish fully open access anyway

Image of front page of article. Title: Trans "enough" for protection? Experimenting with credibility in refugee status determination Authors: Maya Ellen Hertz & Asta Sofie Stage Jarlner Abstract: Accessible version available open-access via link

Excellent new article involving an experiment in credibility assessments in trans refugee adjudication from folks at @mobileucph.bsky.social

Great job ‪@astajarlner.bsky.social‬ ‬& Maya Ellen Hertz!

doi.org/10.3389/fhum...

Thanks to

Co-applicant: @refugeelab.ca Associate Director @petramolnar.com

Collaborators: Jenn McIntyre at the Canada-US Border Rights Clinic and @memomiller.bsky.social at @theborderchronicle.bsky.social

Co-hosts: @osgoodenews.bsky.social & @crsyork.bsky.social at York University

Announcement with the following text: The Refugee Law Lab at the Canada-US Border The Refugee Law Lab is delighted to report that we have secured SSHRC Insight Grant funding to study the use of technology at the Canada-US Border. We will investigate border control technologies' human rights impacts, develop open-source AI tools for refugee advocacy, and maintain accessible legal datasets—empowering scholars, advocates, and migrants to challenge discriminatory practices at the Canada-US border. [Logos: SSHRC, Refugee Law Lab, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University]

Delighted to share the news that the @refugeelab.ca has received a SSHRC Insight Grant to work on the use of technology at the Canada-US Border:

www.yorku.ca/yfile/2025/0...

Judges who say witnesses are "not credible" mean: I think they're lying

Saying that to a person who has reported experiencing sexual violence is deeply problematic

There are other ways to find that the Crown has not met the burden of proof required to put someone in jail

Image of Consultation Report (with logos of the Refugee Law Lab & Osgoode Hall Law School): Refugee Law Lab Consultation Report on Bill C-2 Sean Rehaag, Petra Molnar, & Simon Wallace 14 July 2025 Summary: This Report documents consultations undertaken by the Refugee Law Lab (RLL) with refugee advocacy communities in response to proposed legislation, Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act. The report: a) Provides an overview of Bill C-2, highlighting its impacts on immigration and refugee law b) Outlines critiques of Bill C-2 made by advocacy and human rights organizations c) Describes the RLL, its consultation objectives, and methodologies d) Presents key themes from the RLL's consultations e) Proposes an action plan for the RLL and oƯers recommendations for other university-based researchers

The @refugeelab.ca has released a Consultation Report about research priorities in response to Canada's controversial Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act:

refugeelab.ca/publications...

Legal tech edge case: Canada's Income Tax Act is too long for MongoDB...

Transgender flag

Image of a front porch with a pride progress flag and a bi pride flag.

Put up my pride flags today

Thumbnail of a youtube video entitled: State of AI in 2025: AI Agent Guest Presentation to Osgoode SCTL (4 June 2025) Subtitle: Script: OpenAI o3 (with deep research enabled) Voice: ElevenLabs Speaker starting image: OpenAI Sora Video: Hedra PowerPoint: OpenAI 4.5 & Sora Images on the thumbnail: Osgoode Hall Law School (York University) Logo Image of an blue AI generated humanoid at a lectern, with symbols of code and the scales of justice. Image of a speaker, a racialized person wearing a suit, with rainbow coloured hair.

I put together this AI agent guest presentation for the Standing Committee on Teaching & Learning at @osgoodenews.bsky.social

Interesting to watch with a critical eye. How deep does the analysis go? What's missing? What biases are apparent?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoh0...

The amount of time I spend trying to figure out how to handle null values (NaN, NaT, <NA>, Null, None) across pandas, parquet, mongo, and JSON (especially re: dates) is really absurd. Surely we could standardize all this...

The Trump administration’s move to ban international students at Harvard escalates attacks on universities Visa revocations are becoming an increasingly weaponized part of the U.S. immigration system, and in education, international students are already vulnerable to uncertain futures.

By @refugeelab.ca Associate Director @petramolnar.com:

The Trump administration’s move to ban international students at Harvard escalates attacks on universities

theconversation.com/the-trump-ad...

The white supremacist idiocy on display at the White House yesterday was even more overt than usual. Why so many in the US simply accept this is beyond me

Meanwhile, Canada contemplating new defense partnerships with a rogue state that threatens to annex us is equally perplexing

UNB law prof warns academics to avoid U.S. border where due process 'is on life support' | CBC News Academics are being warned to avoid all non-essential travel to the U.S. after a spike in cases of people being detained or denied entry.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

In these difficult times, we know it can be hard to keep up hope. But some happy news to share: @refugeelab.ca's @migrationtechmonitor.com launches our THIRD fellowship. Can't wait to work with 5 amazing colleagues from all over the world

Learn more about their work and get in touch to collaborate!

Thanks @techpolicypress.bsky.social for the opportunity to reflect on social media surveillance and migration under the Trump Administration, referencing great work by @nanjala.bsky.social and @danmcquillan.bsky.social, and reporting by @aclu.org and @404media.co, among others

Image of a bar, with a pint of Guiness

Image of ruins of a stone house with stone walls near the ocean

Image of two horses, on a cliff overlooking the ocean

Image of a small one lane mountain road with a stone bridge in cloudy weather

Back from a few days off after a great workshop on Comparative & Transnational Insights into Asylum Under Pressure.

Now, on to grading and a large backlog of email -- sorry for anyone waiting for a response!