Sean Rehaag

Professor Sean Rehaag is the Director of the Centre for Refugee Studies and an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. He specializes in immigration and refugee law, human rights and legal process. He frequently contributes to public debates about immigration and refugee law, and he engages in law reform efforts in these areas. In 2012, he received the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers Advocacy Award for outstanding achievement in advocacy on behalf of refugees.

Professor Rehaag’s current academic research focuses on empirical studies of immigration and refugee law decision-making processes, including examinations of extra-legal factors that influence outcomes in the refugee determination process. In 2013, he received the Canadian Association of Law Teachers Scholarly Paper Award for an article entitled “Judicial Review of Refugee Determinations: The Luck of the Draw?”. He also publishes yearly statistics on Canada’s refugee determination system.

Prior to joining the Osgoode faculty in 2008, Professor Rehaag was a visiting scholar at the Université de Montreal’s Chaire de recherche du Canada en droit international des migrations. He has also been a visiting scholar with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at UC Hastings, a visiting researcher at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and an instructor at the University of Victoria and the Université de Sherbrooke. He holds bachelor’s degrees in civil law and common law from McGill University and a bachelors degree in political science from the University of British Columbia. His doctoral dissertation, which received the Alan Marks Medal for best graduate thesis in 2008 at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, examined the legal claims that arise when faith-based communities offer sanctuary to prevent the deportation of unsuccessful refugee claimants.

Research Interests: mmigration and Refugee Law, Empirical Legal Studies, Judicial/Administrative Decision-Making, Legal Process, Access to Justice, Gender and Sexuality