LILLEY: Conservatives call for end to two-tier immigration justice

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The Conservative Party is proposing a policy that every Canadian should be able to rally around. Stop giving lighter sentences to immigrants who aren’t citizens just so they won’t be deported or denied citizenship.

No one has a right to come to Canada and become a citizen; you are granted that privilege and certain things are expected of you, like not breaking our laws.

Lately though, we’ve seen cases were judges have handed out lower sentences to people who had broken serious laws. The entire reason for that was to protect the possibility that convicts could still stay in Canada and be granted citizenship.

It’s a ridiculous practice that abuses a Supreme Court decision from 2013 and needs to come to an end.

Conservative Immigration Critic Michelle Rempel-Garner says her party will seek to do just that when Parliament returns in September.

“Conservatives will introduce legislation to amend the Criminal Code and restore the value of Canadian citizenship by ending the practice of judges considering a non citizen’s immigration status in sentencing,” Rempel-Garner said during a Wednesday news conference on Parliament Hill.

She noted cases that have raised concerns of late, cases that should concern anyone.

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“A permanent resident received a conditional sentence after being convicted of trying to purchase sexual services from a 15 year old as a stronger penalty would have hindered him and his wife from obtaining Canadian citizenship,” she said.

“Another non-citizen in Canada on a visitor’s permit, was convicted twice of groping an 18-year-old woman’s genitals at a bar, yet received a discharge to avoid a permanent criminal record and to allow for an appeal of their deportation.”

These cases, well documented in the media, are outrageous, she pointed out.

“Anyone seeking residence or citizenship in Canada has responsibilities as well as rights. When it comes to sentencing non-citizens, Canada has essentially adopted a form of two-tier justice where judges can and have given lighter sentences to individuals who are non citizens,” she said.

The entire practice stems from a 2013 Supreme Court ruling where a man named Hoang Anh Pham was given a two-year sentence in an Alberta court for trafficking in marijuana. Had he been given a sentence of two-years less a day his immigration status would not have been in jeopardy.

The Supreme Court ruled that the trial and appeals judge erred by not considering this and noted that two-years less a day for such charges was not outside of the norm. They said factors such as this, what they called collateral consequences, should be considered — but not abused — in sentencing.

“These consequences must not be allowed to dominate the exercise or skew the process either in favour of or against deportation. Moreover, it must not lead to a separate sentencing scheme with a de facto if not a de jure special range of sentencing options where deportation is a risk,” the court ruled at the time.

It seems lower court judges saw that immigration status should be considered in sentencing but glossed over paragraph 16 of the ruling.

We can’t have two-tiered sentencing in this country based on your citizenship status, that cuts both ways.

I’m lucky, I was born here but my parents weren’t nor were many family members. Would I be upset if they were facing deportation after being sentenced for a serious crime and not being citizens. Absolutely.

However, I’d also understand that we have laws and standards and those must be upheld.

The Supreme Court decision in 2013 was rather narrow in scope and quite reasonable. It’s now being abused by defence lawyers who want to game the system and accepted by judges who haven’t bothered to read the original decision or who don’t understand it.

If the courts won’t fix this, legislation like what Rempel-Garner and the Conservatives are proposing will be needed. We can’t have two-tiered justice in this country.