Re-Imagining Haj Khalil v. Canada: Cultural Competence and Tort Law

Resource type
Author/contributor
Title
Re-Imagining Haj Khalil v. Canada: Cultural Competence and Tort Law
Abstract
Tort law can only deliver justice if decision-makers exercise cultural competence; one cannot see the true suffering of the other by looking through a uni-cultural lens. A uni-cultural lens blurs the differences between people’s lived experiences and obscures the decision-maker’s capacity to understand the suffering of others, thereby silencing that suffering. This silencing in turn undermines the aims of tort law. This paper emphasizes the importance of cultural competence for tort law by analyzing the Federal Court’s 2007 decision in Haj Khalil v. Canada. The Federal Court held that immigration officials did not owe a duty of care to Haj Khalil and could not be held accountable for the unreasonable delay in processing her application for permanent residency. It also ruled that the delay could not have caused her losses. I conclude that an examination of the facts that framed Haj Khalil`s claim against immigration officials through a culturally competent lens would open the possibility of a different understanding of causation as it arises on the facts of the case.
Genre
SSRN Scholarly Paper
Archive ID
1716931
Place
Rochester, NY
Date
2009
Accessed
9/4/23, 1:30 AM
Short Title
Re-Imagining Haj Khalil v. Canada
Language
en
Library Catalog
Social Science Research Network
Citation
Bahdi, R. (2009). Re-Imagining Haj Khalil v. Canada: Cultural Competence and Tort Law (SSRN Scholarly Paper 1716931). https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1716931
Author / Editor