Ron Poulton has worked as a refugee lawyer for UNHCR in Hong Kong, and as a UN human rights investigator in Cambodia, as well as a legal advisor to UN peacekeeping in Tajikistan. He has testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights investigating Canada's treatment of non-citizens, and before a Parliamentary committee on immigration. He has acted as counsel in a number of immigration and constitutional cases and has appeared in the Supreme Court of Canada. He has taught classes at University of Toronto and University of Ottawa.