# What's wrong with Canadian lawyers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 20, 2012, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831 "2012-07-20T09:16:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/21 "2012-07-21T14:33:57Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > If there is any question as to whether they are a real lawyer or not, the Law Society of Upper Canada has a list or real, licenced lawyers. UPPER Canada? What’s Lower Canada, the US? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/22 "2012-07-21T14:38:55Z")
Our country, in it’s infancy, was once divided into Upper and Lower Canada. This society dates to those times. (You really are only taught American history, aren’t you?) ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/23 "2012-07-21T15:01:29Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > UPPER Canada? What’s Lower Canada, the US? Quebec and Labrador: [Lower Canada - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Canada) ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/24 "2012-07-21T15:21:00Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Our country, in it’s infancy, was once divided into Upper and Lower Canada. > > This society dates to those times. > > (You really are only taught American history, aren’t you?) No, I’m not American, and it was a joke. Clearly a bad one, but meh. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/25 "2012-07-21T15:38:16Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Our country, in it’s infancy, was once divided into Upper and Lower Canada. > > This society dates to those times. > > (You really are only taught American history, aren’t you?) Why would we be taught the minutia of Canadian history? I mean really, a tidbit like that is just a trivia question to anyone outside of Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/26 "2012-07-21T16:01:35Z")
Me, I always think of North Dakota as Lower Saskatchewan. . ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/27 "2012-07-21T16:27:30Z")
To get back to the OP - I would suggest you call the Law Society of Upper Canada and ask for contact info for lawyers working in the area of immigration and citizenship. Then, I would start calling lawyers on that list. I agree with previous posts by Canadian lawyers. I get so many spam e-mails, particularly from abroad, that I just ignore them. Actual phone calls, possibly with a follow-up personal meeting, will likely get you better results. And be prepared to prove who you are - there have been a lot of scams targeting Canadian lawyers, particularly cross-border. If you might want to drive up to Canada to meet a lawyer, one option might be to look for a lawyer in Kingston, which is closer to NYC than Toronto is. Good luck ! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/28 "2012-07-21T16:58:56Z")
By the way, **pseudotriton ruber ruber** , although I don’t know anything about the intricacies of Canadian citizenship law, it sounds to me like you’re not looking at an immigration issue, but a citizenship one. If you can prove you are a Canadian citizen, then you have the constitutional right to come to Canada to live; you don’t have to go through immigration: [QUOTE=Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms] \*\*6. \*\*(1) Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada. (2) Every citizen of Canada and every person who has the status of a permanent resident of Canada has the right a) to move to and take up residence in any province; and b) to pursue the gaining of a livelihood in any province. [/QUOTE] Not intended as legal advice, of course - as I say, I don’t know very much at all about citizenship law. You might want to check out this video and the links it mentions: [Waking Up Canadian](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDeDQpIQFD0). ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/29 "2012-07-21T17:21:19Z")
It’s the wigs. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/30 "2012-07-21T22:27:34Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > It’s the wigs. No wigs on lawyers or judges in Canada. Fancy robes, yes (aren’t the robes of the Supreme Court justices referred to as “Santa Claus suits”?). But no wigs. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/31 "2012-07-22T01:33:13Z")
[**No gavels, either**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_system_of_Canada). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/32 "2012-07-22T01:47:21Z")
I filed for Canadian citizenship myself, based on having one Canadian-born parent. It was a piece of cake: take the forms, photos, documents, and the fee to the Consulate; wait a couple of weeks for my shiny new citizenship card. Eleven years later, I really DID immigrate to Canada, sponsoring my partner at the same time. No problems. Honestly, look at the form before you go consulting a lawyer. It is merely a matter of registering your birth abroad a few decades late. A phrase that might be useful for googling is “Canadian born abroad,” which is you. And me! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/33 "2012-07-22T04:03:17Z")
I’ve e-mailed several Canadian law firms, several times , involved in a class action lawsuit that my deceased father is part of inquiring as to the status of the claim, but I never get a reply. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/34 "2012-07-22T12:29:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Lots of places set up web presences with great intentions, but they lose interest quickly, are overwhelmed with nonsense, and can’t be bothered to really maintain it/tend to it. Apparently this cannot be said often enough. I contact companies on the web regularly who I never hear from again. So I’ve given up on that and now I phone. Y’all should try it, really. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/35 "2012-07-22T12:36:16Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > No wigs on lawyers or judges in Canada. Fancy robes, yes (aren’t the robes of the Supreme Court justices referred to as “Santa Claus suits”?). But no wigs. Really? But that would mean the made-for-TV movie I once saw wasn’t accurate, and that can’t be it. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/36 "2012-07-23T01:12:20Z")
Just for the record. Upper and lower refer to the St. Lawrence River. So Upper Canada meant roughly what we now call Ontario and Lower Canada to Quebec. I never hard Newfoundland called that but it would be reasonable to include Labrador. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/37 "2012-07-23T15:17:16Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Me, I always think of North Dakota as Lower Saskatchewan. . Well, sure, so do most of us from the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/38 "2012-07-23T16:47:07Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > No wigs on lawyers or judges in Canada. Fancy robes, yes (aren’t the robes of the Supreme Court justices referred to as “Santa Claus suits”?). But no wigs. My torts professor told me I could wear a wig if I wanted to, but a judge might think I was being extremely disrespectful. Also, he mentioned that, through watching the English lawyers fumble with them in ICJ and ICC work he’s done, that they look very uncomfortable. But I still want one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/39 "2012-07-23T17:04:35Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > Also, he mentioned that, through watching the English lawyers fumble with them in ICJ and ICC work he’s done, that they look very uncomfortable. But I still want one. 😃 [**Start saving up**](http://www.stanley-ley.co.uk/acatalog/Stanley_Ley_Wigs_1.html). ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831/40 "2012-07-23T19:12:53Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > [**Start saving up**](http://www.stanley-ley.co.uk/acatalog/Stanley_Ley_Wigs_1.html). ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-canadian-lawyers/628831.md?page=3)