About Us
Maria Deanna P. Santos is a dual citizen of Canada and the Philippines and is a lawyer in both jurisdictions. She was called to the Bar in April 1995 in the Philippines and in January 2007 in Ontario, Canada. Her interest in the practice of immigration law stemmed from her graduate research on international law and migration studies which led her to study Canada's immigration laws and the Live-in Caregiver Program in particular. Her doctoral dissertation entitled, “Human Rights and Migrant Domestic Work: A Comparative Analysis of the Socio-Legal Status of Filipina Migrant Domestic Workers in Canada and in Hong Kong,” was published by Martinus Nijhoff / Brill Academic Publishers in 2005 as part of the Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Institute Series.
Her other area of interest is international human rights law, having completed a master's degree in this field from the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Lund University in Sweden, and completed various human rights programs. She also worked as a human rights advisor at the Centre for Human Rights and Equity at York University and as a Director for the National Capital Region of the Commission on Human Rights in the Philippines prior to establishing her own legal practice in Canada.
She is a member of the Canadian Bar Association and the Ontario Bar Association Immigration Law Section, the Refugee Lawyers Association and was a founding member of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers.
A summary of her educational credentials follow:
University Degrees / Diploma:
- Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Law - Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
- Faculty of Graduate Studies Dean's Academic Excellence Award
- Green and Spiegel Award for Best Student Paper in Immigration Law
- Diploma in Refugee and Migration Studies - Faculty of Graduate Studies, York University
- Master of Laws (Ll.M.), International Human Rights Law
- Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, University of Lund, Sweden
- Bachelor of Laws (Ll.B.) - University of the Philippines College of Law
- Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Economics - University of the Philippines School of Economics
- Various continuing professional development programs (CPD) in immigration and refugee law (substantive) sponsored by the Law Society of Ontario, Canadian Bar Association / Ontario Bar Association, Refugee Law Office of Legal Aid Ontario, Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers and others
- Various CPD programs in Professional Responsibility, Ethics and/or Practice Management (professionalism), sponsored by the Law Society of Ontario, Canadian Bar Association / Ontario Bar Association, Refugee Law Office of Legal Aid Ontario, Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers and others
- Follow up Seminar for Asian Alumni of Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Lund University
- 10th Advanced Course on Human Rights - 2001 - Institute for Human Rights, Abo Akademi, Turku, Finland
- Summer Course on Refugee Issues - 2001 - Center for Refugee Studies, York University, Canada
- Law and Society Graduate Student Workshop - 2001- Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
- IXth Summer Session on Human Rights Law - 1998 - Academy of European Law, European University Institute, Florence, Italy
- 28th Annual Study and 25th Session, International Center for University Human Rights Teaching (CiedhU) - 1997 - International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France
- Summer Course on Public International Law - 1996 - The Hague Academy of International Law, Netherlands
9506 Markham Road, Suite 107, Markham, Ontario L6E 0N7
Telephone: (416) 901-8497; (905) 554-7529
Fax: (647) 438-2077
Email: info@santoslaw.ca
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