The Credibility and Authoritativeness of Documentary Information in Determining Refugee Status: The Canadian Experience

This article reviews the origins of the Documentation, Information and Research Branch (the 'Documentation Center') of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), established in 1988 as a part of a major revision of the procedure for determination of refugee status. The Documentation Center conducts research to produce documents describing conditions in refugee-producing countries, and also disseminates information from outside. The information is available to decision-makers, IRB staff, counsel and claimants. Given the importance of decisions on refugee status, the article looks at the credibility and the authoritativeness of the information, by analyzing the structure of information used. It recalls the different types of information 'package' produced, such as a country profiles and the Question and Answer Series, the Weekly Madia Review, the 'Perspectives' series, Responses to Information Requests and Country files, and considers the trend towards standardization across the country. The research process is reviewed, as are the hiring criteria for researchers, the composition of the 'collection', how acquisitions are made, and the development of databases, particularly on country of origin (human rights material) and legal information, which are accessible on-line. The author examines how documentary information can be used by decision-makers to draw conclusions as to whether the claim has a credible basis or the claimant has a well-founded fear of persecution. Relevant caselaw is available to assess and weigh the claim. The experience of Amnesty International in similar work is cited for comparative purposes. A number of 'safeguards' are mentioned, which contribute to the goal of impartiality in research, or which otherwise enhance the credibility of the information, and the author suggests that guidelines might be drafted to explain and assist in the realization of these aims. Greater resources might also enable the Center to undertake the task of 'certifying' the authoritativeness of sources. The author concludes that, as a new institution in Canadian administrative law, the Documentation Center opens interesting avenues for the future. Beacause it ensures an acceptable degree of impartiality of its research and the documents it produces, it may be a useful model for others tribunals adjudicating in fields where evidence is either difficult to gather, or is otherwise complex.

The Macroeconomic Effects of Infrequent Information with Adjustment Costs

In the last decade, the potential macroeconomic effects of intermittent large adjustments in microeconomic decision variables such as prices, investment, consumption of durables or employment – a behavior which may be justified by the presence of kinked adjustment costs – have been studied in models where economic agents continuously observe the optimal level of their decision variable. In this paper, we develop a simple model which introduces infrequent information in a kinked adjustment cost model by assuming that agents do not observe continuously the frictionless optimal level of the control variable. Periodic releases of macroeconomic statistics or dividend announcements are examples of such infrequent information arrivals. We first solve for the optimal individual decision rule, that is found to be both state and time dependent. We then develop an aggregation framework to study the macroeconomic implications of such optimal individual decision rules. Our model has the distinct characteristic that a vast number of agents tend to act together, and more so when uncertainty is large. The average effect of an aggregate shock is inversely related to its size and to aggregate uncertainty. We show that these results differ substantially from the ones obtained with full information adjustment cost models.

Swimming upstream: navigating ethical practices in the creation of a participatory youth media workshop

Despite the growing popularity of participatory video as a tool for facilitating youth empowerment, the methodology and impacts of the practice are extremely understudied. This paper describes a study design created to examine youth media methodology and the ethical dilemmas that arose in its attempted implementation. Specifically, elements that added “rigor” to the study (i.e., randomization, pre- and post-measures, and an intensive interview) conflicted with the fundamental tenets of youth participation. The paper concludes with suggestions for studying participatory media methodologies that are more in line with an ethics of participation.

Composing idiomatically for specific performers : collaboration in the creation of electroacoustic music

Cette thèse examine l'impact de la collaboration avec des instrumentistes particuliers sur la composition de quatre œuvres électroacoustiques. Assumant un rôle plus important que celui de consultant ou conseiller, les interprètes ont influencé les décisions de l'auteur / compositeur dans le cadre de multiples ateliers et d'enregistrements de ceux-ci. Cette thèse examine ainsi comment les outils médiatiques de la musique électroacoustique affectent et enrichissent les relations personnelles : ces outils favorisent la transcription et la traduction, qui à la fois soulignent et transforment la spécificité du son. Le dialogue de la collaboration permet par la suite non seulement une réconciliation plus facile entre les éléments médiatisés et directs dans une oeuvre, mais aussi l'ouverture de son potentiel d'interprétation. En se servant d'une méthodologie qui fait appel à une pratique d'auto-réflexion et récursivité, cette thèse explore des sujets tels que : l'analyse du style personnel dans un cadre linguistique; l'importance du contact physique dans la collaboration et sa traduction incomplète sur support; et les défis de la préservation de la musique électroacoustique pour média ou interprète particulier. Des exemples de la création collaborative de quatre œuvres, racontés de manière personnelle, sont tressés parmi le récit plus théorique de cette thèse, imitant le va-et-vient de la recherche-création.