When Law Forgets: Coherence and Memory in the Determination of Stateless Palestinian Refugee Claims in Canada

Abstract

Abstract This article highlights the incoherence in Canada’s treatment of many Palestinian refugee claims, and argues that this state of affairs is best understood as a failure of legal memory. The drafters of the Refugee Convention recognized both Palestinian refugees’ collective entitlement to protection, and the distinct protection needs of stateless persons. Canadian refugee law, however, contains no trace of this history. As a result, refugee determination in Canada does not account for the persecution that caused and maintains Palestinian statelessness, and holds an often-misplaced focus on where a stateless person ‘habitually resided’ at the expense of where they are actually at risk. This article charts the path to the present legal regime for stateless Palestinian refugee claimants in Canada, and identifies three problematic trends in the application of the Convention refugee definition to Palestinian claims. Alternative interpretations of the law are then offered to restore recognition of the collective nature of the persecution of Palestinian refugees, and the distinct human rights problem of statelessness.