Deporting Criminals from Canada

"It is self-evident that depriving the appellant of the right to appeal deportation to one of the most dangerous places on Earth would be grossly disproportionate to this offence."
Justice Robert Sharpe, Ontario Court of Appeal

"It is somewhat troubling that the court seems to be trying to fit the sentence to fall shy of the six months bar, which was intended by Parliament to expedite the removal of non-citizen criminals."
Sergio Karas, immigration lawyer, former chair, Ontario Bar Association immigration section

"We will review this decision very carefully and act in the best interests of law abiding Canadians."
"Canadians are generous and welcoming people, but they have no tolerance for criminals abusing our generosity. If someone commits a serious crime, our government feels he or she should face the full consequences of that decision, including possibly deportation."
Kevin Menard, spokesman, Chris Alexander, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

But this is precisely what has occurred, the Ontario Court of Appeal taking it upon its judgemental discretion to slash a nine-month jail term given a Syrian-born bank robber, to enable him to avoid deportation to Syria where he was born, on the basis that he could be conscripted into the civil war there. Citing "collateral immigration consequences", the three- justice panel of the appeal court reduced the sentence meted out to Amjad Nassri by one third.

The decision clearly circumvents the government's crackdown on foreign criminals remaining in Canada when they should be deported, having shown themselves to be unsuitable for residency in Canada through their criminal activity. The new legislation meant to speed removal of foreigners who have been sentenced to over six months was newly enacted. And now, newly subverted, by yet another panel of justices who feel they should be making Canadian law, not Parliamentarians.

In 2010, at the age of 21, Amjad Nassri drove the getaway car where three other men, Mohamed Noori, Abdirahman Diriye and a third unidentified man, held up a bank, equipped with knives, one of which was held to the back of a teller's neck. They were all apprehended after the driver went through a stop sign and made contact with an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer.

Amjad Nassri claimed he had no idea his friends planned to rob a bank. Diriye was sentenced to two years less a day and Noori to 13.5 months in jail. The judge hearing Nasari's case found him guilty of robbery and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. The trial judge felt that eight months would "not accurately reflect the seriousness of this offence", sentencing him to nine months.

Yet the three justices on the Appeals panel contradicted the trial judge's finding, planning to upend the government's Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act to limit immigration appeal rights of permanent residents inadmissible for "serious criminality".