A Minister Appeared Unfamiliar With the Cornerstone Refugee Ruling. Advocates Noticed.

CBC reports that refugee rights advocates say they are shocked to hear that the federal immigration minister appeared, in an interview with Radio-Canada, to be unfamiliar with the landmark Supreme Court decision widely considered to be the cornerstone of the Canadian refugee protection system.

It's worth keeping the certainty where it sits. The shock belongs to the advocates; the unfamiliarity is only how the minister appeared in an interview. But the description of the ruling is not the contested part — a cornerstone is not a technicality, and fluency in the framework you administer is ordinarily the floor rather than the ceiling. Which is presumably why the advocates reached for the word they did.