Barbara Jackman, Immigration & Refugee lawyer with Jackman & Associates, has developed a reputation as one of Canada's most effective advocates for the rights of non-citizens, including refugees. Ms. Jackman has taught on a part-time basis as a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto Law School, Osgoode Hall Law School and Queen's University, lectured at the Bar Admission Course, and worked with a number of organizations such as the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Bar Association (Immigration Section), the Canadian Council for Refugees, INTERCEDE, the Law Union of Ontario, and Working Women Community Centre. She has also published widely in this field.

In a University of Ottawa speech entitled "Ethnocentrism in Law: Human Rights for Non-Citizens in the Wake of September 11th" (March 2002) Jackman argued that our country should be much more receptive to the needs of those who pursue national liberation goals within non-democratic regimes, and that Canada should be far more critical of governments that use repressive and violent measures to weaken dissent.

She spoke about the failure of Canadian judges to appreciate the context that affects refugees, and critiqued many of the recent decisions issued by the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada. She noted that these problems pre-dated September 11th, and may worsen within the anti-terrorist climate that has enveloped our society. Barbara Jackman is a lawyer for two of the Secret Trial Five and represents one of the Canadians tortured in Syria.