Post by Migrant Integration in the Mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides

2026 has been a pivotal year for refugees’ rights in Canada, with developments such as the passing of Bill C-12 reshaping what access to a fair hearing looks like. Ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20, we are spotlighting an innovative project that asked students to reimagine how virtual hearings can better support fairness, dignity, and meaningful participation. Earlier this year, students at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Lincoln Alexander School of Law worked with Bridging Divides researcher Hilary Evans Cameron and Professor Jake Okechukwu Effoduh to pitch 22 “Tools, Rules, and Spaces” to reimagine virtual hearings at the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada. Some standout ideas included: 🔹 Hearing Commons (Dahlia Alfi) reimagines the public library as a sanctuary for due process, embedding technology-equipped hearing spaces into Ontario’s 380+ branch network so that refugee claimants meet their hearings with dignity. 🔹 BridgeAssist (Mehak K.) tackles the near-total breakdown of interpreter-mediated communication in virtual proceedings, proposing a platform-integrated solution that restores turn-taking structure, gives interpreters real-time control tools and opens a pre-hearing rapport window before a single word of testimony is spoken. 🔹 Living Transcript (Erin Peterson) addresses how the IRB records every hearing without ever documenting the conditions under which it was held. With a responsible AI-powered Microsoft Teams plugin, fairness is made visible, measurable, and part of the permanent record. 🔗 For the full list of projects presented, and to learn more about DEMO Day, check out the event brochure: lnkd.in/gKcbhh5a As a research program examining the impact of technology on migration issues, we are proud to support a project in which research, legal education, and technological innovation come together to build a system that treats people with the fairness they deserve.

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