Photo credit: Slaferek Law
When Parliament resumes, a conservative MP, Michelle Rempel Garner, says her party will introduce legislation to end consideration oof immigration status when a judge is sentencing a convicted criminal who is a non-citizen.
Vancouver Sun reports that the MP said the practice has essentially resulted in a two-tier justice system that allows non-citizens to get lighter sentences than Canadian citizens convicted of the same offence.
She said, “This offends all principles of fairness that should be foundational to our justice system.”
She pointed to a 2013 Supreme Court of Canada decision that permitted judges to consider immigration status at the sentencing of a case.
In the case, R.v.Pham, the accused was a non-citizen, convicted of two drug-related offences. The trial judge imposed a sentence of two years’ imprisonment. However, the Supreme Court noted that under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a non-citizen sentenced to a term of imprisonment of at least two years loses the right to appeal a removal order against him or her.
In reducing Pham’s sentence, the Supreme Court ruled that a sentencing judge may take into account in determining an appropriate sentence, but added that those consequences should not influence whether or not deportation occurs.
Citing many cases to corroborate her point, Garner insisted that when “it comes to non-citizens, Canada has essentially adopted a system of two-tier justice where judges can and have given lighter sentences to individuals who are non-citizens.”
