Conservative MP seeks to end soft sentencing for foreign criminals

A Conservative MP is proposing a private member’s bill to amend the Criminal Code to abolish judges considering a non-citizen’s immigration status when it comes to sentencing.

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A Conservative Member of Parliament is proposing a private member’s bill that would amend the country’s Criminal Code to abolish the practice of judges considering a non-citizen’s immigration status when it comes to sentencing.

At a Wednesday morning news conference in Ottawa, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner discussed the private member’s bill she plans to introduce when Parliament returns. It would seek to reverse a 2013 Supreme Court decision that forces judges to consider immigration status during criminal sentencing.

Rempel was likely referring to the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2013 decision in R. v. Pham. In that case, the Court held that sentencing judges may take collateral immigration consequences, such as the risk of deportation or loss of appeal rights, into account when determining an appropriate sentence.

In the Pham case, the specific issue was that the sentencing judge imposed a two-year prison sentence on a non-citizen. Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, that sentence would have triggered the loss of the right to appeal a removal order.

The Supreme Court ruled that the sentence should be reduced to two years less a day—a reduction that, while minor procedurally, allowed the accused to retain the critical right to appeal a potential deportation.

As further noted by Rempel, her private member’s bill follows several other “high profile cases,” including some previously reported by True North and Juno News, of Canadian judges imposing shockingly lenient sentences to non-citizens, ostensibly for the purpose of mitigating potential immigration consequences.

In one case, an Indian foreign national was provided a conditional discharge after pleading guilty to trying to buy sex from a minor so that he and his wife could avoid deportation.

In another case referenced by Rempel, a non-citizen in the country on a visitor’s permit was convicted of groping on two separate occasions, yet avoided a permanent criminal record so they could pursue an appeal to their deportation order.

“Anyone seeking citizenship in Canada has responsibilities as well as rights,” Rempel told reporters on Wednesday.

“When it comes to non-citizens, Canada has adopted a form of two-tiered justice where judges can—and have—given lighter sentences to non-citizens by virtue of this ruling. This offends all principles of fairness when it comes to our justice system,” she added.