Sean Rehaag
@seanrehaag.bsky.social
Osgoode Hall Law School Professor | Refugee Law Lab Director | York University | https://osgoode.yorku.ca/rehaag | https://refugeelab.ca (he/him)🏳️🌈
Attempting to negotiate an international trade agreement with a delusional US President who has no respect for international (or domestic) law is a waste of time
The only real option is to diversify trading partners & build alliances with actual liberal democracies
The only real option is to diversify trading partners & build alliances with actual liberal democracies
October 24, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Attempting to negotiate an international trade agreement with a delusional US President who has no respect for international (or domestic) law is a waste of time
The only real option is to diversify trading partners & build alliances with actual liberal democracies
The only real option is to diversify trading partners & build alliances with actual liberal democracies
Frustrating. Seems to happen every year when any big grant deadline approaches. It impacts not just those working at the last minute on those grants, but everyone working on any application. Any planned solutions @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca?
September 24, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Frustrating. Seems to happen every year when any big grant deadline approaches. It impacts not just those working at the last minute on those grants, but everyone working on any application. Any planned solutions @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca?
A busy week...
My @refugeelab.ca released our report about tech and alternatives to immigration detention, co-authored by @danghez.bsky.social & @petramolnar.com, and co-published with @kaldorcentre.bsky.social and @idcoalition.bsky.social:
www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/...
My @refugeelab.ca released our report about tech and alternatives to immigration detention, co-authored by @danghez.bsky.social & @petramolnar.com, and co-published with @kaldorcentre.bsky.social and @idcoalition.bsky.social:
www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/...
September 16, 2025 at 4:31 PM
A busy week...
My @refugeelab.ca released our report about tech and alternatives to immigration detention, co-authored by @danghez.bsky.social & @petramolnar.com, and co-published with @kaldorcentre.bsky.social and @idcoalition.bsky.social:
www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/...
My @refugeelab.ca released our report about tech and alternatives to immigration detention, co-authored by @danghez.bsky.social & @petramolnar.com, and co-published with @kaldorcentre.bsky.social and @idcoalition.bsky.social:
www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/...
Hey Canadian JD students, and graduate students in any relevant discipline (including computer science, software engineering, data science):
Interested in $10,000 to build open-source access to justice tools?
a2aj.ca/student-inno...
Interested in $10,000 to build open-source access to justice tools?
a2aj.ca/student-inno...
September 8, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Hey Canadian JD students, and graduate students in any relevant discipline (including computer science, software engineering, data science):
Interested in $10,000 to build open-source access to justice tools?
a2aj.ca/student-inno...
Interested in $10,000 to build open-source access to justice tools?
a2aj.ca/student-inno...
Yeah, no thanks @lawandsociety.bsky.social
I mean, I love SF
But even if I was willing to spend $ in the US right now, travel to the US is not safe for anyone publicly critical of Trump -- which includes all law & society scholars who I would want to engage with
I mean, I love SF
But even if I was willing to spend $ in the US right now, travel to the US is not safe for anyone publicly critical of Trump -- which includes all law & society scholars who I would want to engage with
September 2, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Yeah, no thanks @lawandsociety.bsky.social
I mean, I love SF
But even if I was willing to spend $ in the US right now, travel to the US is not safe for anyone publicly critical of Trump -- which includes all law & society scholars who I would want to engage with
I mean, I love SF
But even if I was willing to spend $ in the US right now, travel to the US is not safe for anyone publicly critical of Trump -- which includes all law & society scholars who I would want to engage with
Edge case when parsing case SCC judgments:
In 8 SCR 474, Justice Strong (later Chief Justice Strong) wrote a judgment, "mislaid" it, and told the reporter just to report the case without the judgment:
www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/do...
In 8 SCR 474, Justice Strong (later Chief Justice Strong) wrote a judgment, "mislaid" it, and told the reporter just to report the case without the judgment:
www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/do...
August 14, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Edge case when parsing case SCC judgments:
In 8 SCR 474, Justice Strong (later Chief Justice Strong) wrote a judgment, "mislaid" it, and told the reporter just to report the case without the judgment:
www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/do...
In 8 SCR 474, Justice Strong (later Chief Justice Strong) wrote a judgment, "mislaid" it, and told the reporter just to report the case without the judgment:
www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/do...
Excellent new article involving an experiment in credibility assessments in trans refugee adjudication from folks at @mobileucph.bsky.social
Great job @astajarlner.bsky.social & Maya Ellen Hertz!
doi.org/10.3389/fhum...
Great job @astajarlner.bsky.social & Maya Ellen Hertz!
doi.org/10.3389/fhum...
August 13, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Excellent new article involving an experiment in credibility assessments in trans refugee adjudication from folks at @mobileucph.bsky.social
Great job @astajarlner.bsky.social & Maya Ellen Hertz!
doi.org/10.3389/fhum...
Great job @astajarlner.bsky.social & Maya Ellen Hertz!
doi.org/10.3389/fhum...
Delighted to share the news that the @refugeelab.ca has received a SSHRC Insight Grant to work on the use of technology at the Canada-US Border:
www.yorku.ca/yfile/2025/0...
www.yorku.ca/yfile/2025/0...
![Announcement with the following text:
The Refugee Law Lab at the Canada-US Border
The Refugee Law Lab is delighted to report that we have secured SSHRC Insight Grant funding to study the use of technology at the Canada-US Border. We will investigate border control technologies' human rights impacts, develop open-source AI tools for refugee advocacy, and maintain accessible legal datasets—empowering scholars, advocates, and migrants to challenge discriminatory practices at the Canada-US border.
[Logos: SSHRC, Refugee Law Lab, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7v5ioahjpvxy2mojphfxxtij/bafkreidfpvkmwghywtnpc5v43dh5mtucgsbnfp43ljcdxq2dwsxvukl3mi@jpeg)
July 31, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Delighted to share the news that the @refugeelab.ca has received a SSHRC Insight Grant to work on the use of technology at the Canada-US Border:
www.yorku.ca/yfile/2025/0...
www.yorku.ca/yfile/2025/0...
Judges who say witnesses are "not credible" mean: I think they're lying
Saying that to a person who has reported experiencing sexual violence is deeply problematic
There are other ways to find that the Crown has not met the burden of proof required to put someone in jail
Saying that to a person who has reported experiencing sexual violence is deeply problematic
There are other ways to find that the Crown has not met the burden of proof required to put someone in jail
July 24, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Judges who say witnesses are "not credible" mean: I think they're lying
Saying that to a person who has reported experiencing sexual violence is deeply problematic
There are other ways to find that the Crown has not met the burden of proof required to put someone in jail
Saying that to a person who has reported experiencing sexual violence is deeply problematic
There are other ways to find that the Crown has not met the burden of proof required to put someone in jail
The @refugeelab.ca has released a Consultation Report about research priorities in response to Canada's controversial Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act:
refugeelab.ca/publications...
refugeelab.ca/publications...
July 16, 2025 at 2:52 PM
The @refugeelab.ca has released a Consultation Report about research priorities in response to Canada's controversial Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act:
refugeelab.ca/publications...
refugeelab.ca/publications...
Legal tech edge case: Canada's Income Tax Act is too long for MongoDB...
July 4, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Legal tech edge case: Canada's Income Tax Act is too long for MongoDB...
Put up my pride flags today
June 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Put up my pride flags today
I put together this AI agent guest presentation for the Standing Committee on Teaching & Learning at @osgoodenews.bsky.social
Interesting to watch with a critical eye. How deep does the analysis go? What's missing? What biases are apparent?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoh0...
Interesting to watch with a critical eye. How deep does the analysis go? What's missing? What biases are apparent?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoh0...
June 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I put together this AI agent guest presentation for the Standing Committee on Teaching & Learning at @osgoodenews.bsky.social
Interesting to watch with a critical eye. How deep does the analysis go? What's missing? What biases are apparent?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoh0...
Interesting to watch with a critical eye. How deep does the analysis go? What's missing? What biases are apparent?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoh0...
The amount of time I spend trying to figure out how to handle null values (NaN, NaT, <NA>, Null, None) across pandas, parquet, mongo, and JSON (especially re: dates) is really absurd. Surely we could standardize all this...
May 29, 2025 at 6:56 PM
The amount of time I spend trying to figure out how to handle null values (NaN, NaT, <NA>, Null, None) across pandas, parquet, mongo, and JSON (especially re: dates) is really absurd. Surely we could standardize all this...
By @refugeelab.ca Associate Director @petramolnar.com:
The Trump administration’s move to ban international students at Harvard escalates attacks on universities
theconversation.com/the-trump-ad...
The Trump administration’s move to ban international students at Harvard escalates attacks on universities
theconversation.com/the-trump-ad...
The Trump administration’s move to ban international students at Harvard escalates attacks on universities
Visa revocations are becoming an increasingly weaponized part of the U.S. immigration system, and in education, international students are already vulnerable to uncertain futures.
theconversation.com
May 28, 2025 at 6:12 PM
By @refugeelab.ca Associate Director @petramolnar.com:
The Trump administration’s move to ban international students at Harvard escalates attacks on universities
theconversation.com/the-trump-ad...
The Trump administration’s move to ban international students at Harvard escalates attacks on universities
theconversation.com/the-trump-ad...
The white supremacist idiocy on display at the White House yesterday was even more overt than usual. Why so many in the US simply accept this is beyond me
Meanwhile, Canada contemplating new defense partnerships with a rogue state that threatens to annex us is equally perplexing
Meanwhile, Canada contemplating new defense partnerships with a rogue state that threatens to annex us is equally perplexing
May 22, 2025 at 1:16 PM
The white supremacist idiocy on display at the White House yesterday was even more overt than usual. Why so many in the US simply accept this is beyond me
Meanwhile, Canada contemplating new defense partnerships with a rogue state that threatens to annex us is equally perplexing
Meanwhile, Canada contemplating new defense partnerships with a rogue state that threatens to annex us is equally perplexing
Reposted by Sean Rehaag
In these difficult times, we know it can be hard to keep up hope. But some happy news to share: @refugeelab.ca's @migrationtechmonitor.com launches our THIRD fellowship. Can't wait to work with 5 amazing colleagues from all over the world
Learn more about their work and get in touch to collaborate!
Learn more about their work and get in touch to collaborate!
📢 We are thrilled to welcome our THIRD cohort of fellows!
Joining us are:
🔵 Sophia Amimo, Kenya
🔴 Aqila Abdelkarim, Somaliland
🟡 Abid, Kashmir
🟢 Issa Amro, Palestine
🟠 Nuria Arias and Ever Martinez, detained in the United States
➡️ www.migrationtechmonitor.com/2025fellows
What will they work on?
Joining us are:
🔵 Sophia Amimo, Kenya
🔴 Aqila Abdelkarim, Somaliland
🟡 Abid, Kashmir
🟢 Issa Amro, Palestine
🟠 Nuria Arias and Ever Martinez, detained in the United States
➡️ www.migrationtechmonitor.com/2025fellows
What will they work on?
April 24, 2025 at 2:01 PM
In these difficult times, we know it can be hard to keep up hope. But some happy news to share: @refugeelab.ca's @migrationtechmonitor.com launches our THIRD fellowship. Can't wait to work with 5 amazing colleagues from all over the world
Learn more about their work and get in touch to collaborate!
Learn more about their work and get in touch to collaborate!
Reposted by Sean Rehaag
Thanks @techpolicypress.bsky.social for the opportunity to reflect on social media surveillance and migration under the Trump Administration, referencing great work by @nanjala.bsky.social and @danmcquillan.bsky.social, and reporting by @aclu.org and @404media.co, among others
Widespread surveillance leads to abuses of power, discrimination, and the stifling of freedom of expression, says Petra Molnar. Historically marginalized communities will bear the disproportionate brunt of this type of social media surveillance, she writes.
Trump’s Social Media Surveillance: Social Scoring by Another Name | TechPolicy.Press
Widespread surveillance leads to abuses of power, discrimination, and the stifling of freedom of expression, writes Petra Molnar.
www.techpolicy.press
April 21, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Thanks @techpolicypress.bsky.social for the opportunity to reflect on social media surveillance and migration under the Trump Administration, referencing great work by @nanjala.bsky.social and @danmcquillan.bsky.social, and reporting by @aclu.org and @404media.co, among others
Back from a few days off after a great workshop on Comparative & Transnational Insights into Asylum Under Pressure.
Now, on to grading and a large backlog of email -- sorry for anyone waiting for a response!
Now, on to grading and a large backlog of email -- sorry for anyone waiting for a response!
April 22, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Back from a few days off after a great workshop on Comparative & Transnational Insights into Asylum Under Pressure.
Now, on to grading and a large backlog of email -- sorry for anyone waiting for a response!
Now, on to grading and a large backlog of email -- sorry for anyone waiting for a response!
Was working today with a locally hosted reasoning language model to see how it performs in categorizing refugee law cases involving sexual orientation
At one point the model (a distilled version of qwq 32) got stuck in a bisexual angst loop as it was "thinking"...
At one point the model (a distilled version of qwq 32) got stuck in a bisexual angst loop as it was "thinking"...
![Image of this text [excerpted due to character limits]
<think>
Okay, let's tackle this question. The user wants me to categorize the refugee case based on the principal claimant's allegations regarding persecution due to sexual orientation or gender identity. [...]
Looking at the document provided, the case is about a claimant who claimed to be in a same-sex relationship and identified as a lesbian or bisexual. [...]
Now, looking at the categories: The options are 1 through 7. The claimant is a woman alleging persecution as a lesbian or bisexual. So, category 2 is "Lesbian woman" and 4 is "Bisexual/pansexual woman." Since she claimed both lesbian and bisexual identities, but the primary category here would be the one that covers both. However, the options are separate. Wait, the question says to pick the category that best describes the group she alleges. Since she's a woman claiming to be either lesbian or bisexual, the possible options are 2 or 4. The question is whether the primary claim is under lesbian (2) or bisexual (4). The document states the claimant alleged being a lesbian or bisexual. The categories are separate, so perhaps the answer includes both, but since we have to choose one, maybe the best fit is 2 and 4? Wait, but the options are mutually exclusive. Let me check again.
The claimant is a woman alleging she's a lesbian or bisexual. Since the categories are separate, but the question asks for the principal claimant's allegations. The claimant's primary assertion would fall under either 2 or 4. However, the question says "the principal claimant's allegations" so if she claimed both, but the categories are separate, perhaps the answer is [HIT MAX TOKENS, WITHOUT GETTING TO AN ANSWER]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7v5ioahjpvxy2mojphfxxtij/bafkreicfibrcbwtc5i5qwu3dp5rasanfdq2ritvozkawiosgv3etnnwvsy@jpeg)
April 6, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Was working today with a locally hosted reasoning language model to see how it performs in categorizing refugee law cases involving sexual orientation
At one point the model (a distilled version of qwq 32) got stuck in a bisexual angst loop as it was "thinking"...
At one point the model (a distilled version of qwq 32) got stuck in a bisexual angst loop as it was "thinking"...
Super soirée hier à la Francophonie en fête avec Le Vent du Nord !
Had a great time last night at the Francophonie en Fête, with Le Vent du Nord!
Had a great time last night at the Francophonie en Fête, with Le Vent du Nord!
March 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Super soirée hier à la Francophonie en fête avec Le Vent du Nord !
Had a great time last night at the Francophonie en Fête, with Le Vent du Nord!
Had a great time last night at the Francophonie en Fête, with Le Vent du Nord!
There are lots of good reasons to be critical of Big Law.
But, given the news, I'd like to say:
I was a Summer Associate at Paul Weiss in New York in 2003, where, among other things, I worked to push back against the legal black hole that the US created in Guantanamo Bay
But, given the news, I'd like to say:
I was a Summer Associate at Paul Weiss in New York in 2003, where, among other things, I worked to push back against the legal black hole that the US created in Guantanamo Bay
March 21, 2025 at 10:28 PM
There are lots of good reasons to be critical of Big Law.
But, given the news, I'd like to say:
I was a Summer Associate at Paul Weiss in New York in 2003, where, among other things, I worked to push back against the legal black hole that the US created in Guantanamo Bay
But, given the news, I'd like to say:
I was a Summer Associate at Paul Weiss in New York in 2003, where, among other things, I worked to push back against the legal black hole that the US created in Guantanamo Bay
March 16, 2025 at 12:22 PM
There are lots of good reasons to be critical of Big Law.
But, given the news, I'd like to say:
I was a Summer Associate at Paul Weiss in New York in 2003, where, among other things, I worked to push back against the legal black hole that the US created in Guantanamo Bay
But, given the news, I'd like to say:
I was a Summer Associate at Paul Weiss in New York in 2003, where, among other things, I worked to push back against the legal black hole that the US created in Guantanamo Bay