BY HEATHER GARDINER
Law students from abroad find studying in Canada offers a variety of benefits and new experiences.
DISTANTSHORES I
n July 2001, 14-year-old Navratan Fateh arrived in Canada from the Indian state of Punjab with his parents and younger sister. They settled in Surrey, B.C., and the young
teen soon loved his new home, develop- ing a fascination for the Canadian edu- cation system. He found it more orga- nized and analytical than India's system, as he was encouraged to express his cre- ativity rather than memorize facts. But then came the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. Being Sikhs, Fateh's
28 SPRING 2 0 1 2 on C ANADIAN Lawy er 4STUDENTS
family feared that they might face pos- sible repercussions in Canada so they moved back to India once he finished Grade 8. But Fateh was determined to return
as an adult to the country he fell in love with. So aſter his 18th birthday, he con- tacted a lawyer in Vancouver to find out how to appeal his immigration status. He studied Canadian law to figure out how he could get back into the coun- try, and fought his immigration case for two years before winning his judg- ment
humanitarian-and-compas- sionate grounds. "If I didn't have legal
knowledge, I would be like, 'OK, well the law says you stay [in Canada] for three years or you go back, and that's the end of the story. But there is an exception [on] humanitarian-and-compassionate grounds," says Fateh. "You're supposed to raise the argument, build your case, and if you build your case well enough you might fit that exception, it's one out of 10. But the other person wouldn't know that exception, he would just ac- cept the facts. Somebody who knows the law would be like, 'I can do this.'" It's because of this experience with Canada's Immigration Appeal Division that Fateh
