Ottawa, ON – Today, the Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner, Conservative Shadow Minister for Immigration, issued the following statement regarding a recent British Columbia court ruling on considering immigration status in sentencing non-citizens convicted of serious crimes:
“Last week, the British Columbia Court of Appeal ruled that a non-citizen convicted of a serious crime was given too lenient a sentence simply because of his immigration status.
“The case involved a non-citizen convicted of a violent assault, stabbing a man in the arm and in the abdomen. The victim’s arm needed 18 stitches, and his stomach required 50 staples to close. The sentencing judge gave the attacker a conditional sentence of two years less a day to prevent him from being deported.
“It shouldn’t have taken a long, expensive appeal by the Crown for the victim of this horrendous attack to get the justice he deserves. Non-citizens convicted of a crime should face the same consequences as Canadian citizens, and when they are convicted of serious crimes, they should be deported. End of story.
“This is why Conservatives will do what the soft-on-crime Liberals will not: table a bill to end the two-tier practice of judges considering immigration status when sentencing non-citizens.”