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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · 13d

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?

Screenshot of SSHRC website, indicating: "The SSHRC on-line system is experiencing intermittent technical issues. We are working to resolve the issue. Thank you for your patience.."

Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · 21d

...and my a2aj.ca project released a working paper by @simonwallace.bsky.social and me about bulk access to Canadian legal data, the role of @canlii.bsky.social, & our new open-source alternative (a2aj.ca/canadian-legal-data)

Paper is here:

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Cover page for Access To Algorithmic Justice Working Paper. Accessible text via link.

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · 21d

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/...

Cover image for a report entitled "From Surveillance to Empowerment: Advancing the Responsible Use of Technology in Alternatives to Detention" Accessible text via link

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · 29d

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...

Screenshot from Access to Algorithmic Justice webpage (link in text):

Student Innovation Grants
Overview
$10 000 to Build Open-Source Access to Justice Tools
The Access to Algorithmic Justice (A2AJ) Student Innovation Grants Program is a competitive funding opportunity of $10, 000 for graduate students in any relevant discipline and JD students looking to build open-source tools that advance access to justice.

This program provides funding for qualifying technology projects that expand, enhance and utilize the A2AJ’s open-source datasets to advance access to justice.

Funding Details & Key Dates
Eligibility Requirements
About A2AJ and Available Datasets
Example Projects
Evaluation Criteria
How to Apply
Questions & Information Session

Grant at a glance
Funding: $10,000 per project
Available: 5 grants
Deadline: November 3, 2025
Team size: 1–4 students
Deliverable: Build a working tool / dataset / prototype
Upcoming info session – join email list

Apply now

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Sep 2

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

Screenshot of email conference invitation with the following text:

LSA 2026 Annual Meeting Submissions Now Open!

>> Click Here to Visit our 2026 Conference Website!

>> Submit an Abstract or Session!

Dear Sean,

We are pleased to invite you to participate in the 2026 LSA Annual Meeting that will take place in San Francisco, California, USA from May 28-31, 2026! The meeting will be hosted at the Hilton Union Square. This year’s sessions will take place in-person.

The deadline for our Call for Submissions is October 21, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. ET (USA and Canada). The Program Committee welcomes any scholar studying sociolegal activities to submit an individual paper or session proposal. We recommend scholars interested in proposing a session with a creative format to consult with the Program Committee and the LSA Executive Office (melissa.king@lawandsociety.org) in advance of submitting their proposal.

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Sep 2

Sounds like a great course

But the US has always been like this: rights for some, and not others. All that changes is the target

Think Japanese internment under FDR

Or the lavender/red scares a few years later

Or Chile, Guatemala, Nicaragua

Or slavery, segregation, etc, etc

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Aug 14

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...

Screenshot of a CanLII case with footnote 31 highlighted and a hand-drawn smiling face with two exclamation points. The footnote reads: "The learned judge, having mislaid his judgment, directed the reporter to report the case without it."

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Aug 13

Interesting.

I like @caryscraig.bsky.social's take on this: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

I have lots of concerns about AI, but I don't think copyright law is the way to address those concerns -- and I think academics should publish fully open access anyway

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Aug 13

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...

Image of front page of article.
Title: Trans "enough" for protection? Experimenting with credibility in refugee status determination
Authors: Maya Ellen Hertz & Asta Sofie Stage Jarlner
Abstract: Accessible version available open-access via link

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Jul 31

Thanks to

Co-applicant: @refugeelab.ca Associate Director @petramolnar.com

Collaborators: Jenn McIntyre at the Canada-US Border Rights Clinic and @memomiller.bsky.social at @theborderchronicle.bsky.social

Co-hosts: @osgoodenews.bsky.social & @crsyork.bsky.social at York University

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Jul 31

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...

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]

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Jul 24

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

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Jul 16

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...

Image of Consultation Report (with logos of the Refugee Law Lab & Osgoode Hall Law School):

Refugee Law Lab Consultation Report on Bill C-2
Sean Rehaag, Petra Molnar, & Simon Wallace
14 July 2025
Summary:
This Report documents consultations undertaken by the Refugee Law Lab (RLL) with refugee
advocacy communities in response to proposed legislation, Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act. The
report:
a) Provides an overview of Bill C-2, highlighting its impacts on immigration and refugee law
b) Outlines critiques of Bill C-2 made by advocacy and human rights organizations
c) Describes the RLL, its consultation objectives, and methodologies
d) Presents key themes from the RLL's consultations
e) Proposes an action plan for the RLL and oƯers recommendations for other university-based
researchers

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Jul 4

Legal tech edge case: Canada's Income Tax Act is too long for MongoDB...

Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Jun 18

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Jun 8

Put up my pride flags today

Image of a front porch with a pride progress flag and a bi pride flag.

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Jun 5

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...

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · May 29

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...

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · May 28

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

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

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · May 22

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

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Reposted by Sean Rehaag

Nicole O’Byrne @nobyrne.bsky.social · May 20

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

UNB law prof warns academics to avoid U.S. border where due process 'is on life support' | CBC News

Academics are being warned to avoid all non-essential travel to the U.S. after a spike in cases of people being detained or denied entry.

www.cbc.ca

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Reposted by Sean Rehaag

Petra Molnar @petramolnar.com · Apr 24

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!

Migration and Technology Monitor @migrationtechmonitor.com · Apr 24

📢 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?

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Reposted by Sean Rehaag

Petra Molnar @petramolnar.com · Apr 21

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

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · Apr 21

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

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Apr 22

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!

Image of ruins of a stone house with stone walls near the ocean

Image of two horses, on a cliff overlooking the ocean

Image of a small one lane mountain road with a stone bridge in cloudy weather

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Sean Rehaag @seanrehaag.bsky.social · Apr 6

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"...

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]

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