Discovering refuge in Canada from war-torn Ukraine, couple Oksana Hrabova and Oleg Lomanov say they did not suppose twice about trusting their Hamilton immigration lawyer to assist them keep completely.
Final summer time, they met Victoria Bruyn in her downtown workplace and paid her a retainer of practically $3,000 to assist them file their everlasting residency (PR) purposes, mentioned Hrabova.
However after they despatched Bruyn all the needed paperwork, she stopped responding to their emails, calls and texts in early January, mentioned Hrabova. Greater than 4 months later, they are saying they by no means finalized the appliance along with her and have given up hope that she is going to assist them as promised.
“She merely disappeared,” Hrabova mentioned. “I perceive $3,000 is just not an unlimited quantity, however for us it’s cash that we labored onerous for. We may by no means have imagined {that a} licensed lawyer in Canada may act this fashion. We’re in despair.”
CBC Hamilton has spoken to 4 households since 2023 who say Bruyn did not comply with by way of on guarantees to assist them navigate Canada’s difficult, high-stakes immigration course of, leaving them in limbo or, in some circumstances, dealing with deportation.
All of them expressed frustration with the dearth of safety for newcomers to Canada, when needing authorized illustration, and accountability for Bruyn’s actions.
Bruyn is a licensed lawyer, however not practising legislation as of Oct. 24, 2024, says the Regulation Society of Ontario (LSO)’s registry — a change Hrabova mentioned she solely realized of lately and one which occurred whereas Bruyn was speculated to be dealing with their immigration case.
“It is not proper,” Hrabova mentioned. “How can she simply be taking part in with the lives of different individuals?”
That day in October, Bruyn was appointed as a full-time adjudicator on the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), in keeping with the province’s web site. LTB adjudicators are like judges, listening to and deciding points between renters and homeowners.
Bruyn advised CBC Hamilton she refutes Hrabova and Lomanov’s claims.
“I’ve proof to indicate these allegations are unfounded. Nevertheless, I’m unable to launch info as a consequence of solicitor/consumer confidentiality,” she mentioned in an e-mail. “I’ve acquired no waivers from any of the events famous to talk about their circumstances, nor do I imagine that it will be applicable for me to take action.”
Tribunals Ontario, which incorporates the LTB, mentioned it does not remark concerning the particular person adjudicators it appoints, however usually talking, they’re topic to rigorous battle of curiosity and felony background checks and bear coaching about their moral obligations.
“To keep up the belief of Ontarians, Tribunals Ontario, which incorporates the LTB, takes the moral conduct of its employees and adjudicators very critically,” mentioned spokesperson Veronica Spada in an e-mail.
Couple saved for a 12 months to rent lawyer
Hrabova’s house metropolis of Dnipro was pummeled with assaults when Russia invaded in early 2022. She has epilepsy and her seizures had been triggered by the stress of the struggle, sleepless nights and a scarcity of her medicine.
“You do not know what you’ll be able to anticipate and it is actually scary while you sit there on the ground and also you hear each explosion round, you’re feeling the vibrations,” she mentioned. “Mentally, it was very onerous.”
A Russian missile struck an condo complicated in Dnipro, Ukraine, killing dozens of civilians. However survivors stay defiant within the midst of horror and grief.
Fearing for her well being and their security, Hrabova, 29, and her fiance Lomanov, 34, moved to Canada later that 12 months by way of the special temporary visa program for Ukrainians fleeing the struggle.
4 days after arriving in Hamilton, that they had already discovered jobs, rigorously saving their cash to rebuild their life and help their households again house.
It took them a 12 months to save lots of the $2,850 they gave to Bruyn, who was beneficial to them by way of a mutual acquaintance, mentioned Lomanov.
However now they must redo the PR course of with a brand new lawyer, mentioned Lomanov. They’ve filed a grievance with the LSO, which regulates legal professionals and paralegals in Ontario, and a report with Hamilton police, who advised them there’s not sufficient proof to pursue a felony investigation.
Bruyn mentioned she has not been contacted by the LSO about her billing practices.
In one other case filed in opposition to Bruyn by American citizen Sarah Arvanitis in 2023, the LSO decided there have been points with Bruyn’s “high quality of service,” however it did not meet the bar {of professional} misconduct, in accordance the determination seen by CBC Hamilton.
Hrabova and Lomanov are talking out now, they mentioned, as a result of they really feel like they have been scammed and need to warn others.
They don’t seem to be the primary.
Lawyer not on authorized support roster
Mauricio Fernandez Perdomo, 29, and Maria Jose Ramirez Bolanos, 28, got here to Canada from Colombia in 2022, together with their younger daughter and Fernandez Perdomo’s brother.
Needing to use for refugee standing, Fernandez Perdomo mentioned they had been linked to Bruyn by way of Authorized Assist Ontario, a provincial company that covers lawyer charges for individuals who cannot afford them.
After receiving all their paperwork, Bruyn assured them she was submitting their software, Ramirez Bolanos mentioned. However then, silence.
Bruyn didn’t reply CBC Hamilton’s questions on this case, once more citing consumer confidentiality, however denied their allegations.
“I saved writing to her, telling her we had no response from immigration and that we had been nervous,” Ramirez Bolanos advised CBC Hamilton in Spanish from their house in St. Catharines, Ont.
“And she or he did not get again to us, she did not reply anymore,” mentioned Fernandez Perdomo, additionally talking in Spanish.
Over a 12 months later, the couple had been shocked to obtain a letter from the federal authorities stating they’d quickly be deported. They mentioned in addition they realized no refugee software had ever been filed for them or Fernandez Perdomo’s brother.
“I felt offended as a result of we gave our hope [to Bruyn] that, above all, a lawyer is the one who’s going that will help you,” mentioned Fernandez Perdomo.
By means of a authorized clinic, they received a brand new lawyer, who was capable of cease the deportation course of and file their software and, after a listening to, they had been granted asylum.
“Our lives had been in peril if we had been deported to Colombia, however she did not care,” mentioned Ramirez Bolanos.
Bruyn is not listed on Authorized Assist Ontario’s on-line roster and the provincial company mentioned it wasn’t allowed to touch upon why or when the change occurred.
Based on Bruyn, she resigned as a authorized support lawyer earlier this 12 months as a result of she is not pracitsing legislation as a consequence of her place on the LTB.
Hamilton mother caught in U.S. for months
CBC Hamilton has reported on two different circumstances involving Bruyn.
In March 2023, Bruyn’s shoppers, a pair from Colombia, Andrea Pardo Rodriguez and Nelson Martinez Mora, had been unexpectedly arrested by the Canada Border Companies Company (CBSA), separated from their daughter who’s blind and has an mental incapacity, and held in a Toronto detention centre.
They thought Bruyn, who was representing them by way of authorized support, had submitted their refugee software. That turned out to not be the case and CBSA had grounds to deport them. A brand new lawyer intervened and was capable of halt their deportation hours earlier than they had been speculated to board a aircraft.
Then Arvanitis got here ahead to CBC Hamilton about her expertise with Bruyn, who she additionally discovered by way of authorized support.
An American citizen, Arvanitis thought Bruyn had filed her Canadian PR software, and she or he’d be allowed to cross the border each methods in March 2023.
However what was speculated to be a one week journey was a three-month ordeal when Arvanities was denied entry again to Canada the place her younger daughter and husband, who had well being points, reside in Hamilton.
From border officers, Arvanitis realized no software had ever been submitted. When she tried to get Bruyn to assist her return to Canada, the lawyer could not be reached.
“I am unable to even describe the sensation of absolute turmoil and helplessness,” Arvanitis advised CBC Hamilton in 2023.
With the assistance of a brand new lawyer, Arvanitis was granted a brief resident allow inside weeks. That June, she reunited along with her daughter and husband, who had no selection however to have his leg amputated whereas she was gone.
After Arvanitis went public along with her story in August 2023, Bruyn continued to follow.
When Hrabova was making an attempt to trace down Bruyn earlier this 12 months, she got here throughout Arvanitis’s story.
“I used to be crying once I learn the article,” she mentioned. “All of the puzzle [pieces clicked].”
Regulation society says no skilled misconduct
Arvanitis mentioned she was emotionally and financially devastated from the “horrific” separation again in 2023 and filed a grievance in opposition to Bruyn with the LSO.
However later that 12 months, the LSO closed the file after discovering “there was inadequate proof {of professional} misconduct to help additional motion,” mentioned its determination.
It advised Arvanitis different allegations of negligence must be addressed by way of the court docket system.
In response to the grievance, Bruyn admitted to the LSO she ought to’ve adopted up with the Canadian authorities about whether or not it had acquired Arvanitis’s everlasting residency software, mentioned the choice. Bruyn additionally mentioned she was sluggish to answer Arvanitis “as a consequence of an sickness and journey plans.”
LSO supplied Bruyn with “regulatory steering” and added a be aware to her file, the choice mentioned. Arvanitis’s grievance and the choice had been not made public. Based on the LSO web site, Bruyn has by no means been earlier than a LSO tribunal or topic to any regulatory restrictions.
The LSO declined to remark for this story on Arvanitis’s grievance and the result, and wouldn’t say if it has acquired another complaints in opposition to Bruyn, citing confidentiality.
Arvanitis requested LSO evaluation its determination, however it was upheld in January.
“I’m happy that the legislation society took into consideration that you simply had been anxious to return to Canada and that Ms. Bruyn might have had transient delays in getting again to you,” mentioned the LSO in a letter.
“It moderately decided that these delays weren’t of a level as to warrant additional regulatory motion … The foundations don’t require a regular of perfection of a lawyer.”
Arvanitis mentioned all through the method with the LSO she felt like her issues weren’t taken critically and she continues to push the LSO to take motion.
“They handled me like an annoying little pest,” she advised CBC Hamilton this week. “However I am not giving up as a result of I do not need this to occur to a different household.”
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