'Progressive' Standards of Unequally-Applied Justice

"[The longer sentence] may result in his [the criminal accused] deportation [but was a requirement since the sentencing judge] failed to impose a sentence that was proportionate to the gravity of the offences."
"[The lower court judge] imposed an artificial sentence [to protect Yare from deportation, acknowledging the sentence fully applied] will affect  his right of appeal ... and may result in his deportation."
Manitoba Court of Appeal

The Manitoba Court of Appeal found a lower court judge "imposed an artificial sentence" to prevent Mustaf Ahmed Yare from being deported.   Brian Donogh/Postmedia/File

"I'm going to get my gang and I'm going to find you and kill you. I'm a real gangster and you will die."
"Trust me, you f---ing goofs [Winnipeg police]."
Mustaf Ahmed Yare, Somali refugee, resident of Canada

"[He] ought to be jailed for about a year for these charges."
"I am not inclined to subject you to deportation hearings, but you need to know how lucky you are."
Sentencing judge

A lower-court judge faced with the case of a Somali refugee against whom criminal charges had been brought, weighed the seriousness of the charges against what he obviously viewed as a humanitarian concern that should someone in this young man's circumstances as a refugee lacking citizenship rights in Canada be given a long prison sentence that would place him in a federal penal institution it would automatically move forward a system whereby serious criminality results in removal from Canada.

The compassionate judge exercising his legal judgement alongside his liberal-progressive values to sentence 23-year-old Mustaf Ahmed Yare to five months and 25 days in prison which would place him in provincial detention and circumvent any move by the federal government to deport the man back to his country of birth. His Somali family while living in a refugee camp gave birth to this young man there.

Eventually the family moved to Canada in 2009 where he lived with his parents and the family became permanent residents of Canada. He was arrested in September 2017 after refusing to pull over during a traffic stop; accelerated, rammed into the police car and drove off at high speed, police cars chasing him as he crashed the vehicle he was driving into a metal sign post and ran away on foot. Once arrested he threatened police officers with death.

Released on bail, after two weeks he was again arrested, in breach of his curfew. As it was, he was already in probation when he was arrested. The man has a "lengthy and related criminal record". He pleaded guilty to charges that included fleeing police and uttering threats. The man, it appears, is an unregenerate criminal against whose presence the public should be protected. The status of permanent residence can be revoked if someone is arrested for committing a crime, convicted and given a sentence of six months or longer.

With the new sentence of 13 months and ten days imposed by the Court of Appeal revising the original sentence, it should be but a short matter of time before this man is deported. In the interim, he has since been once again arrested, is back in custody on charges of assault with a weapon and uttering threats. Though the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that judges exercise discretion bearing in mind immigration consequences in sentencing, criminal acts merit punishment commensurate to their impact.

Sergio Karas, an immigration lawyer and analyst pointed out the obvious, that there is nothing fair in seeking justice for criminal acts on an unequal basis, as when a non-citizen is able to achieve a lower sentence than a citizen for the same crime in an effort to avoid having the non-citizen deported from Canada. In fact, when a non-citizen demonstrates just as this man has how unfit he is to become a Canadian citizen there is every reason to deny him residence.

"You can't have that [lenience in sentencing non-citizens], because otherwise it's like playing favourites".
"Let’s face it. For somebody to be sentenced to six months of incarceration, it’s got to be a pretty heavy-duty offence."
Sergio Karas, immigration lawyer, Toronto