After teaching university for 15 years, I attended a rally about Canada's refugee protection system. Hearing about the plight of refugees, I decided that I had to do something. I volunteered to help refugee claimants from west Africa and then got a job running the refugee program at a community centre in Montreal. On the suggestion of a friend, I applied to law school with the intention of working with refugees and people with immigration problems.During my first two years at the University of Toronto Law School, I did volunteer work as a law student at the Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples. There I assisted refugee claimants and other Spanish speakers who had questions about or problems with immigration. After graduating from law school, I was elected to the Board of Directors of the Centre. more... See more text