On January 9, 2025, the Federal Court determined that David Thomas, former chair of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, demonstrated “unconscious bias” when dismissing a discrimination complaint against the Immigration Department. The case, involving Professor Amir Attaran’s challenge of delayed processing times for parent/grandparent sponsorships, will return to the tribunal for redetermination after the court found Thomas breached procedural fairness and lost objectivity in his handling of bias allegations, mainly through his personal defence that “some of my closest friends are from Iran.”
