Ukrainian couple paid lawyer $3K to help them stay in Canada but say she 'disappeared.' It's not the 1st time
In another complaint against Hamilton lawyer Victoria Bruyn, law society finds no professional misconduct
Finding refuge in Canada from war-torn Ukraine, couple Oksana Hrabova and Oleg Lomanov say they didn't think twice about trusting their Hamilton immigration lawyer to help them stay permanently.
Last summer, they met Victoria Bruyn in her downtown office and paid her a retainer of nearly $3,000 to help them file their permanent residency (PR) applications, said Hrabova.
But after they sent Bruyn all of the necessary documents, she stopped responding to their emails, calls and texts in early January, said Hrabova. More than four months later, they say they never finalized the application with her and have given up hope that she will help them as promised.
"She simply disappeared," Hrabova said. "I understand $3,000 is not an enormous amount, but for us it is money that we worked hard for. We could never have imagined that a licensed lawyer in Canada could act this way. We are in despair."
CBC Hamilton has spoken to four families since 2023 who say Bruyn didn't follow through on promises to help them navigate Canada's complicated, high-stakes immigration process, leaving them in limbo or, in some cases, facing deportation.
They all expressed frustration with the lack of protection for newcomers to Canada, when needing legal representation, and accountability for Bruyn's actions.
Bruyn is a licensed lawyer, but no longer practising law as of Oct. 24, 2024, says the Law Society of Ontario (LSO)'s registry — a change Hrabova said she only learned of recently and one that happened while Bruyn was supposed to be handling their immigration case.
"It's not right," Hrabova said. "How can she just be playing with the lives of other people?"
That day in October, Bruyn was appointed as a full-time adjudicator at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), according to the province's website. LTB adjudicators are like judges, hearing and deciding issues between renters and owners.
Bruyn told CBC Hamilton she refutes Hrabova and Lomanov's claims.
"I have evidence to show these allegations are unfounded. However, I am unable to release information due to solicitor/client confidentiality," she said in an email. "I have received no waivers from any of the parties noted to speak about their cases, nor do I believe that it would be appropriate for me to do so."
Tribunals Ontario, which includes the LTB, said it does not comment about the individual adjudicators it appoints, but generally speaking, they're subject to rigorous conflict of interest and criminal background checks and undergo training about their ethical obligations.
"To maintain the trust of Ontarians, Tribunals Ontario, which includes the LTB, takes the ethical conduct of its staff and adjudicators very seriously," said spokesperson Veronica Spada in an email.
Couple saved for a year to hire lawyer
Hrabova's home city of Dnipro was pummeled with attacks when Russia invaded in early 2022. She has epilepsy and her seizures were triggered by the stress of the war, sleepless nights and a shortage of her medication.
"You don't know what you can expect and it's really scary when you sit there on the floor and you hear every explosion around, you feel the vibrations," she said. "Mentally, it was very hard."
Fearing for her health and their safety, Hrabova, 29, and her fiance Lomanov, 34, moved to Canada later that year through the special temporary visa program for Ukrainians fleeing the war.
Four days after arriving in Hamilton, they had already found jobs, carefully saving their money to rebuild their life and support their families back home.
It took them a year to save the $2,850 they gave to Bruyn, who was recommended to them through a mutual acquaintance, said Lomanov.
But now they have to redo the PR process with a new lawyer, said Lomanov. They've filed a complaint with the LSO, which regulates lawyers and paralegals in Ontario, and a report with Hamilton police, who told them there's not enough evidence to pursue a criminal investigation.
Bruyn said she has not been contacted by the LSO about her billing practices.
In another case filed against Bruyn by American citizen Sarah Arvanitis in 2023, the LSO determined there were issues with Bruyn's "quality of service," but it didn't meet the bar of professional misconduct, according the decision seen by CBC Hamilton.
Hrabova and Lomanov are speaking out now, they said, because they feel like they've been scammed and want to warn others.
They aren't the first.
Lawyer no longer on legal aid roster
Mauricio Fernandez Perdomo, 29, and Maria Jose Ramirez Bolanos, 28, came to Canada from Colombia in 2022, along with their young daughter and Fernandez Perdomo's brother.
Needing to apply for refugee status, Fernandez Perdomo said they were connected to Bruyn through Legal Aid Ontario, a provincial agency that covers lawyer fees for people who can't afford them.
After receiving all their documents, Bruyn assured them she was submitting their application, Ramirez Bolanos said. But then, silence.
Bruyn did not answer CBC Hamilton's questions about this case, again citing client confidentiality, but denied their allegations.
"I kept writing to her, telling her we had no response from immigration and that we were worried," Ramirez Bolanos told CBC Hamilton in Spanish from their home in St. Catharines, Ont.
"And she didn't get back to us, she didn't answer anymore," said Fernandez Perdomo, also speaking in Spanish.
Over a year later, the couple were shocked to receive a letter from the federal government stating they would soon be deported. They said they also learned no refugee application had ever been filed for them or Fernandez Perdomo's brother.
"I felt angry because we gave our hope [to Bruyn] that, above all, a lawyer is the one who's going to help you," said Fernandez Perdomo.
Through a legal clinic, they got a new lawyer, who was able to stop the deportation process and file their application and, after a hearing, they were granted asylum.
"Our lives were in danger if we were deported to Colombia, but she didn't care," said Ramirez Bolanos.
Bruyn is no longer listed on Legal Aid Ontario's online roster and the provincial agency said it wasn't allowed to comment on why or when the change happened.
According to Bruyn, she resigned as a legal aid lawyer earlier this year because she is no longer pracitsing law due to her position at the LTB.
Hamilton mom stuck in U.S. for months
CBC Hamilton has reported on two other cases involving Bruyn.
In March 2023, Bruyn's clients, a couple from Colombia, Andrea Pardo Rodriguez and Nelson Martinez Mora, were unexpectedly arrested by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), separated from their daughter who is blind and has an intellectual disability, and held in a Toronto detention centre.
They thought Bruyn, who was representing them through legal aid, had submitted their refugee application. That turned out not to be the case and CBSA had grounds to deport them. A new lawyer intervened and was able to halt their deportation hours before they were supposed to board a plane.
Then Arvanitis came forward to CBC Hamilton about her experience with Bruyn, who she also found through legal aid.
An American citizen, Arvanitis thought Bruyn had filed her Canadian PR application, and she'd be allowed to cross the border both ways in March 2023.
But what was supposed to be a one week trip turned into a three-month ordeal when Arvanities was denied entry back to Canada where her young daughter and husband, who had health issues, live in Hamilton.
From border officials, Arvanitis learned no application had ever been submitted. When she tried to get Bruyn to help her return to Canada, the lawyer couldn't be reached.
"I can't even describe the feeling of absolute turmoil and helplessness," Arvanitis told CBC Hamilton in 2023.
With the help of a new lawyer, Arvanitis was granted a temporary resident permit within weeks. That June, she reunited with her daughter and husband, who had no choice but to have his leg amputated while she was gone.
After Arvanitis went public with her story in August 2023, Bruyn continued to practice.
When Hrabova was trying to track down Bruyn earlier this year, she came across Arvanitis's story.
"I was crying when I read the article," she said. "All the puzzle [pieces clicked]."
Law society says no professional misconduct
Arvanitis said she was emotionally and financially devastated from the "horrific" separation back in 2023 and filed a complaint against Bruyn with the LSO.
But later that year, the LSO closed the file after finding "there was insufficient evidence of professional misconduct to support further action," said its decision.
It told Arvanitis other allegations of negligence would have to be addressed through the court system.
In response to the complaint, Bruyn admitted to the LSO she should've followed up with the Canadian government about whether it had received Arvanitis's permanent residency application, said the decision. Bruyn also said she was slow to respond to Arvanitis "due to an illness and travel plans."
LSO provided Bruyn with "regulatory guidance" and added a note to her file, the decision said. Arvanitis's complaint and the decision were not made public. According to the LSO website, Bruyn has never been before a LSO tribunal or subject to any regulatory restrictions.
The LSO declined to comment for this story on Arvanitis's complaint and the outcome, and would not say if it has received any other complaints against Bruyn, citing confidentiality.
Arvanitis requested LSO review its decision, but it was upheld in January.
"I am satisfied that the law society took into consideration that you were anxious to return to Canada and that Ms. Bruyn may have had brief delays in getting back to you," said the LSO in a letter.
"It reasonably determined that these delays were not of a degree as to warrant further regulatory action … The rules do not require a standard of perfection of a lawyer."
Arvanitis said throughout the process with the LSO she felt like her concerns weren't taken seriously and she continues to push the LSO to take action.
"They treated me like an annoying little pest," she told CBC Hamilton this week. "But I'm not giving up because I don't want this to happen to another family."
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