Russian spies, Canadian policy and the Supreme Court: A Windsor law prof's experience
A Windsor law professor is sharing his experiences working on a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court — and involved Russian spies.
Alexander Vavilov was born in Toronto in 1994 to Russians posing as Canadians under assumed names. When he tried to have his passport renewed around 2010 — after his parents were arrested and deported to Russia — he was denied.
In 2013, Vavilov was issued a certificate of Canadian citizenship that was then cancelled, after the Canadian Registrar of Citizenship changed their interpretation of the Citizenship Act.
His citizenship will be reinstated after a lengthy appeal process which made it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. The decision was just finalized in December 2019.
"Seven judges agreed and two judges rendered a concurring decision ... which basically means they agree," said lawyer Sujith Xavier, a University of Windsor law professor who helped represent Vavilov in his Supreme Court appeal.
"It's really unusual for a Supreme Court to take so long to make this decision," said Xavier. "The significance of the questions ... I think that's why the court took its time."
Xavier helped draft submissions, primarily doing preliminary research, on behalf of Vavilov, prior to taking on the teaching role with UWindsor.
"I was part of the legal team who went to Ottawa, to the Supreme Court," said Xavier, who was teaching in Malaysia when the submissions were due.
Xavier said he was acutely aware of the intrigue and controversy of dealing with 'Russian spies' while he was working on the case — but it wasn't his first time in those circumstances.
"In my time with the firm, I worked with similar situations," said Xavier. "I'm an expert in public international law and so whether or not Alex's parents were employees of the Russian state and if they had diplomatic immunity .. that's all dealt with through international law."
According to Xavier, the 200+ page decision will have an impact on Canadian administrative law and the decisions of Canadian administrative officials moving forward.
About 70 students will attend a discussion panel Wednesday at UWindsor to hear Xavier and the other lawyers involved discuss the case. The students will be able to ask questions about the process.
