Excessive enforcement regarding permanent residents involved in minor crimes
TORONTO, Oct. 1, 2012 /CNW/ - Canadian permanent residents who have been convicted of a single crime will be exposed to cruel and unusual punishment by a new law being proposed by immigration minister Jason Kenney which will see them deported from Canada without any right to seek a humanitarian appeal to Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board.
The conservative government of Canada has now tabled a bill which proposes that these "permanent" residents be deported regardless of the age they arrived in Canada, the time they have spent here, the impact their removal will have on their spouses or children, their positive contributions to Canadian society, or the hardship they would face in their country of origin.
For decades, these factors have been the cornerstones in deportation appeals to Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board which will now lose its jurisdiction to hear the cases of any permanent resident who has been handed a sentence of imprisonment of six months or more regardless of the nature of the crime committed.
"Our government is seeking to return to biblical times when sinners were banished to the wilderness for their sins without the right to ask for mercy" said veteran immigration lawyer Mendel Green of Toronto's Green & Speigel.
"It is unconscionable that a country like Canada, which has always allowed for second chances, to now embark on a new 'one strike you're out' approach" lamented immigration lawyer Guidy Mamann who has won many such second chances for his clients.
The lawyers claim that bill C-43 entitled "The Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act" is named as such to give the impression to the public that it targets foreign criminals who are seeking to enter Canada when, in fact, its main targets are lawfully admitted permanent residents many of whom were brought to Canada at a young age and who have been raised here, educated here, and who have established families and businesses here.
Green and Mamann will be joined at a press conference this week by other veteran immigration lawyers Barbara Jackman and Lorne Waldman and by Andras Schreck, vice-president of the Ontario Criminal Lawyers Association who have all expressed grave concerns about the harsh consequences of this federal bill and of the constitutional issues it raises under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The press conference will be held at the law offices of Green & Spiegel LLP at 390 Bay Street, Suite 2800, Toronto Ontario M5H 2Y2 at 12:00 noon EST on Wednesday, October 3, 2012. For information about the press conference call 416-862-7880.
SOURCE: Green & Speigel
For more information about the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act contact any of the following:
Mendel Green 416-862-7880 or [email protected]
Barbara Jackman 416-653-9964 or [email protected]
Guidy Mamann 416-862-0000 or [email protected]
Andras Schreck 416-977-6268 or [email protected]
Lorne Waldman 416-482-6501 or [email protected]
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