Our Team
Board of Directors
Board Members
co-president
Erkan ates (He/Him/il)
Erkan Ates is a Canadian lawyer with over a decade of experience across immigration, tax, pensions law, and public sector legal policy.
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He currently serves at the Department of National Defence, where he leads on pensions law and policy issues, and maintains a parallel immigration and tax law practice through EA Law.
Erkan holds a law degree from the University of Ottawa and a Graduate Certificate in Pension Law from Osgoode Hall Law School. In 2021, he was appointed an Arkansas Traveller by the Governor of Arkansas in recognition of his cross-border service contributions.
Previously, Erkan served as a Senior Legal Analyst at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, specializing in statutory and regulatory reform across federal pension legislation. His earlier legal roles include serving as Legal Counsel at Department of Justice and at the Nordic Investment Bank in Helsinki, Finland.
Erkan is particularly interested in regulatory reform, access to justice, and legal education for newcomers.
Co-President
Max Berger (He/Him/Il)
Max is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School and has been practicing immigration law for the past 36 years.
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Max founded his immigration law firm in 1989, the same year that the Immigration and Refugee Board was created. Max appears regularly before all four divisions of the Board as well as the Federal Court.
Max has often been interviewed on immigration matters by the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, CTV and CBC news. His articles on immigration policy have appeared in the op-ed pages of the Toronto Star and Montreal Gazette. Max has been a speaker at the CBA National Immigration Conference.
While immigration ministers come and go and immigration laws change, an immigrant’s dream is timeless – to find a better life for themself and their family. It is every immigration lawyer’s goal to help their client realize that dream.
Director
Joycna Kang (Her/She/Elle)
Joycna is a Partner at Battista Migration Law Group, a Toronto-based immigration firm specializing in advocacy for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
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Director
Nadia allibhai(Her/she/elle)
Nadia is a lawyer with the Business Immigration practice at EY Law LLP.
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Nadia’s practice focuses exclusively in the area of Canadian business immigration law. Specifically, Nadia assists both corporate and individual clients in the preparation and submission of applications for temporary employment work permits and permanent residence. She provides strategic immigration advice to clients with respect to admission to Canada pursuant to NAFTA and other international treaties.
Director
Roger Pichette (He/Him/Il)
Roger completed a Bachelor of Laws and Biotechnology degree at the University of Sherbrooke. In 2012, a few years after being called to the Quebec Bar, he co-founded BB Immigration Inc.
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Now with five offices across Quebec, the firm offers a wide range of services to both corporate and individual clients.
A native of Quebec City, Mr. Pichette is very sociable and demonstrates a great openness to others, which quickly puts everyone he meets at ease.
His curiosity and rigor, stemming from his scientific background, undoubtedly enhance his practice.
His previous involvement includes serving on various hospital ethics committees in the region and as President of JCI Canada in 2015.
Director
Sarah Adler (SHe/HER/ELLE)
With almost 20 years of Canadian Immigration experience, Sarah is a senior immigration lawyer in Toronto with MT>iplus, the immigration division of McCarthy Tetrault LLP.
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She has expertise across a diverse spectrum of clients including individuals, entrepreneurs, start ups and multinational corporations, and possesses a variety of industry experience including those in engineering, healthcare, IT, and finance.
Sarah has been a speaker on the Express Entry system for permanent residence and has also spoken on the importance of work permits to the permanent residence process, and regularly speaks alongside Labour and Employment to provide business with update on the everchanging Canadian Immigration landscape.
She has posted blogs on topics such as the interplay between Canadian tax and immigration rules, considerations when hiring internationally (including project planning), and the use of AI in the immigration process. From 2020-2022, Sarah acted as a Canadian board member for Talent Beyond Boundaries, an NGO that supports the relocation of refugees through economic immigration programs.
Having graduated from the University of St. Thomas, School of Law in Minnesota, USA in 2004, Sarah is a member of both the New York State Bar (3rd District), and the Law Society of Ontario.
Director
Grace Allen (SHe/HER/ELLE)
Grace is the founder and principal lawyer with Grace Allen Immigration Law in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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Grace holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Allison University with a double major in International Relations and Hispanic Studies. She graduated from this program holding First Class Honours with Distinction. She earned a Master of Science, Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science where she focused her thesis on the intersection of migrants’ rights and citizenship. Grace stayed in London to complete her LLB at the City University of London in 2015. She has also lived abroad in Denmark, Germany and Mexico.
Director
Ekaterina (Katia) Neouimina (SHe/HER/ELLE)
Ekaterina (Katia) Neouimina is a founding member of CILA. With over a decade of experience practicing exclusively in immigration law, she primarily practices corporate immigration law serving small and mid-size businesses, large multinational corporations, and individuals.
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She believes that immigration should not be stressful. Her approach is “find Zen with ENN.”
Holding a Juris Doctor degree, specializing in international law, from the University of Ottawa, a Master’s in public administration from Carleton University, and a Bachelor in Political Science from the American University in Cairo, Katia combines a robust educational background with a deep understanding of global legal frameworks.
Prior to establishing a successful immigration law firm, Katia gained valuable experience working with leading global immigration law firms, the Government of Canada, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). She is a strong advocate of a collaborative immigration bar and welcomes suggestions from CILA members on ways to grow CILA and contribute to its work.
Director
Barbara Jo (‘BJ’) Caruso (She/Her/Elle)
BJ is a highly regarded senior member of the immigration bar with over 30 years of experience practicing immigration and citizenship law.
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She holds key leadership positions within the immigration bar and is co-author of both the Annotated Immigration Refugee Protection Act and the Citizenship Act. BJ is certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Specialist – Citizenship and Immigration Law.
Director
Rick lamanna(He/Him/Il)
Rick is a Partner at Fragomen Canada in Toronto, the Canadian office of the world’s largest immigration services provider.
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Since his call to the Bar in 2006, Rick has practiced exclusively in the area of business immigration, representing clients in a wide range of industries, such as manufacturing, oil and gas, finance, information technology and professional services. Rick holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA, with distinction) from Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Quebec and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. He is also certified as a Specialist in Citizenship and Immigration Law by the Law Society of Ontario.
Director
Mary Keyork (She/Her/Elle)
Mary Keyork has over 15 years experience practicing exclusively Canadian immigration law, with a focus on refugee claims, humanitarian applications and complex family reunifcations.
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Director
Thanh Cong Phan (He/Him/Il)
Thanh Phan is the founder of Elite Law Corporation in Victoria, British Columbia, where his practice focuses on business immigration and corporate law.
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He advises entrepreneurs, start-ups, and multinational corporations on navigating Canada’s immigration system and establishing innovative businesses, with a particular focus on high-tech ventures.
Before establishing his practice in BC, Thanh worked as a lawyer at the Toronto office of a global immigration law firm, supporting multinational clients across diverse industries, including information technology, management consulting, engineering, and food & agriculture.
Thanh’s expertise spans the full spectrum of corporate immigration matters, including Start-up Visa applications, free trade agreement-related applications, intra-company transfers, Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIA), compliance matters, and inadmissibility issues. He also advises on corporate structuring and business start-ups in Canada.
Thanh holds a PhD in Law from the University of Victoria. He serves as an Adjunct Professor in Immigration and Citizenship Law at Queen’s University and the University of Victoria, Faculty of Law. He has also taught Canadian Public and Constitutional Law at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Earlier in his career, Thanh worked for the Government of Vietnam for over 10 years as legal counsel and delegate, where he negotiated international free trade agreements with the EU and the Eurasian Customs Union.
Deeply committed to community service, Thanh frequently provides pro bono legal support to the Vietnamese community in Canada, the Vietnam Consulate General in Vancouver, and the Embassy of Vietnam to Canada.
Administrative Team
Executive Director
Kareem El-Assal (he/Him/il)
Kareem has worked in strategic and operational roles for CILA since 2021. He has been a Canadian immigration policy professional for over a decade. He holds degrees from the University of Toronto and Durham University.
Membership Coordinator
Dinah Singh (She/Her/Elle)
Dinah has been supporting CILA since the onset of the Association. She supports Board members with important tasks essential to running the organization. Dinah holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in French-Spanish-English Translation and a Master of Information Studies, both earned from the University of Ottawa.
Digital Marketing Coordinator
Shara Brandt (She/Her/Elle)
Shara joined CILA in 2025 to support the growth of its marketing and outreach initiatives. She works to increase awareness and support for CILA’s range of events and resources. Shara holds a BA in Business Administration from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Our Latest Articles
Good News for International Students: No More Co-op Work Permits Starting April 2026
This article was originally published on the website of Green & Spiegel Immigration Law.
CILA in The Globe and Mail: IRCC orders asylum claimants who crossed U.S. border irregularly to leave or face deportation
CILA features in a Globe and Mail article regarding asylum claims.
CILA referenced in Kumar v. Canada, 2026 FC 333
CILA is referenced in Kumar v. Canada, 2026 FC 333.
