On April 22, 2016, Michael Woods gave a presentation on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at the Inaugural Conference on International Inter-Tribal Trade at the Faculty of Law at the University of Oklahoma. The conference was organized with the assistance and hard work of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, the Mohawk Council of Akwensase, the Chickasaw Nation, the Law Faculties of the University of Oklahoma and Thompson River University and Donna William. Woods, LaFortune LLP joined other firms including Luksi Group LLC, Berkey Williams LLP, Garwill Law Professional Corporation as participants. Free-Trade / Fair Trade — From the 20th Century to 21st Century from Michael Woods The conference program [see attached] included the panel discussions of the Jay Treaty, Canada-U.S. Border Issues as they related to Frist Nations, Indigenous International Trade, and the relevance the NAFTA experience in the context of these topics. Michael joined Professor Taiawagi Helton of the University of Oklahoma and James Collard, Director of Economic Planning for the Potawatomi Nation, on the panel which addressed NAFTA. Michael addressed both ways to leverage NAFTA’s trade and investment provisions and strategies to ensure greater inclusion in on-going and future negotiations. The consensus of the participants was the further discussion and practical steps are needed and the Faculty of Law Thompson River University has offered to host the next conference in Kamloops, British Columbia this Fall. Woods, LaFortune LLP remains committed to this International Inter-Tribal Trade process and to on-going participation in the field of First Nation and Indigenous commerce and international trade. Earlier Gordon LaFortune the firm’s managing partner made a joint submission with Wayne Garnons-Williams of Garwill Law in the context of the Specific Claims Tribunal Act Five Year...
Read MoreMichael Woods Joins Algonquin College Advisory Committee
In April 2016, Michael Woods was appointed to a two year term on Ottawa-based Algonquin College’s International Business Advisory Committee. He joins leaders from the international trade community, government, academia, and the private sector in the work or assisting the College’s faculty designing and defining the continuing development of the College’s International Business Management Programs. These programs focus on programs and courses designed to provide students with an in-depth international management skills and knowledge for the growing demand for international trade professionals. This Advisory Committee provides input with respect to Algonquin’s three year Business Administration Degree in International Business and the one-year Ontario College Graduate Certificate program – International Business Management. Graduates of these courses meet the academic requirements needed to apply for the Certified International Trade Professional (CITP) designation granted by the Forum for International Trade Training (FITT). Michael, who is a member of the FITT Board, has taught the FITT courses at Algonquin and has wide experience lecturing on international trade law at universities in Canada and the United...
Read More“Coherence or Chaos” Part I
Change is the law of life and those who only look at the past or present are certain to miss the future. John F. Kennedy Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Canadian Council of International Law (CCIL) Annual Conference. The theme was “Coherence of Chaos” and the program was full of insightful commentary by leaders from Canada and all over the world in various fields of international law. Commentary which led to a very high level of debate, exchange and (for me, at least) learning. Many thanks to the CCIL President, Adrienne Jarabek , and her team and special congratulations to Conference Co-Chairs, Professor Debra Steger and Victoria Clark. For more about the CCIL and the conference see: http://www.ccil-ccdi.ca/#!upcoming-conference/cg4a The conference was held at my old “stomping grounds” – the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) which was undergoing a name change as we met. The new name – Global Affairs Canada (GAC ) / Affaires Mondiale Canada (AMC) . Whether the new name will mean new policies and new directions, it is too early to say. However, given the setting and the topic of the conference, it was apparent that many in the international law and policy community are anticipating fresh perspectives. For example, the international regulation of trade and the environment are being examined through new prisms of convergence. As we consider the future and the need to adapt to change, it is important to ensure that discussion about the international rules rule are brought beyond the experts, scholars, and practitioners to the wider constituency of those who rely on those rules and are most effected by change. In this context, one of the matters discussed at the conference – a very important issue for those working at GAC – comes to mind. How should Canada address the recently completed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)? The TPP is a massive free trade pact involving Canada, our NAFTA partners – the United States and Mexico- , economic powerhouse Japan and eight other Asia-Pacific countries.* If all the parties ratify the agreement it will cover a market of almost 800 million and a combined...
Read MoreEconomic Sanctions – An Effective Option?
by Ghislaine Murango* and Michael Woods Having addressed sanctions in the business immigration context, we will examine the question of the overall effectiveness of sanctions. To re-cap, economic sanctions are used by states as instruments of foreign and trade policy a response to actions and or measures by another state that poses real or potential threats to international security, or which relate to humanitarian concerns or other trade related violations. Scholars and policymakers, sometimes describe sanctions as a preferable alternative to military action as a means to influence a state’s action. On the other hand, it has also been argued that the overall effects of sanctions can be as or more destructive than military action with innocent civilians as principal casualties. Before reviewing the issue of the overall effectiveness of sanctions, here is summary of types of sanction related measures: The arms embargo[1] : This is a counteractive measure often imposed in response to an ongoing civil war, illegal coup, war crimes, and other serious humanitarian crises. Arms embargo measures aim to block the import of arms and other strategic military materials by the targeted country. One of the problems encountered in such cases is the sometimes exponential growth in illegal arms which can seriously undermine the embargo and its objectives. Asset freeze: This measure aims to block specified individuals or entities to from access to property or assets that they hold in the country putting the freeze in place. The measures usually prohibit any persons in the country putting the measures in place from dealing in any property held by or on behalf of the individual or the entity targeted by the asset freeze – often to the detriment of that business or person. Export/import restrictions: The government imposing the restrictions impedes the economy of a specific sector by prohibiting the buying, selling or shipping of identified goods to or from the targeted state. These restrictions often target specific sectors. Financial prohibitions: These measures prohibit listed entities and/or person in a targeted state from conducting financial transactions with persons in the implementing country. They often include specific types of financial transactions and/or financial transactions with specified or...
Read MoreEconomic Sanctions – Immigration and International Trade Law
Advising clients on the operations of international trade sanctions is an important part of a trade lawyer’s practice. Governments use economic sanctions as instruments of foreign and trade policy, imposing them in response to threats to international security, concerns with humanitarian violations, or in pursuit of trade related goals. These restrictions are often applied to dealings with entire countries, non-state actors, such as terrorist organizations, or designated persons from a target country. These restrictions can have a significant impact on their businesses as they can: prohibit trade and other economic activity with a foreign market; block financial transactions and affect foreign investments or acquisitions; or lead to the seizure of property, fines, and imprisonment. There is an on-going debate about the effectiveness of sanctions and the way that innocent people can be sideswiped by the measures. We will explore this topic further in our following articles on sanctions and export controls. Here however, we want to focus on the way that Canada’s economic sanctions regime can and does affect would-be business immigrants. In the Canadian context, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) is responsible for the administration of sanctions which are implemented under the authority of the Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA), the United Nations Act (UN Act) or the Freezing Assets of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (FACFOA). Some of the sanctions that are currently in place have a particular effect on investor-class immigrants from Syria and Iran and their applications to move to Canada, as sanctions have frozen all financial transactions with these countries in an attempt to put pressure on theses regimes. Syrian and Iranian nationals applying to immigrate to Canada under the federal investor class process must pledge to invest $800,000 in the Canadian economy to qualify. In addition, the provinces have business immigration programs that require selected applicants to make investments ranging from $200,000 to $800,000 as a pre-condition to their successful immigration. It is interesting to note that Iranian investor-class applicants are estimated to have contributed $350 million to the Canadian economy in the past five years. In the context of Syria, effective March 5, 2012, Syrian nationals are unable to...
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