Dr. Sheldon Finkelstein

The offender, an immigration lawyer, was convicted of fabricating a fraudulent refugee claim for an undercover police officer posing as a client.

The Crown sought a penitentiary sentence of three to five years, while the defence requested a conditional sentence.

The court emphasized the paramount principles of denunciation and general deterrence, noting that the offender's status as a lawyer and the systemic impact of immigration fraud aggravated the offences.

Despite mitigating factors including the offender's mental health struggles and loss of her legal career, the court found a conditional sentence inappropriate and imposed a concurrent sentence of 12 months' incarceration on each count.

The applicant was injured in a motor vehicle accident and applied for statutory accident benefits.

At the time of the accident, he was receiving Workers' Compensation Benefits for a prior work-related injury.

The arbitrator determined that the applicant's gross weekly income must be calculated by averaging his actual income over the four-week period preceding the accident, without disregarding periods of unemployment.

The arbitrator also held that the Workers' Compensation Benefits received by the applicant must be deducted from the weekly income benefits payable by the insurer.

The applicant was awarded weekly income benefits for a limited period, as the arbitrator found that his ongoing inability to work after January 19, 1994, was substantially caused by pre-existing conditions not related to the motor vehicle accident.