The Tories will introduce legislation this fall to amend the Criminal Code to prevent a non-citizen’s immigration status from being considered by judges in sentencing.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner announced that the Conservatives would table a bill when Parliament returns in the fall aiming to “end leniency for non-citizen criminals.”
“Since 2013, a Supreme Court ruling has permitted judges to consider immigration status when sentencing,” Rempel Garner, her party’s immigration critic, said at an Aug. 13 press conference in Ottawa. “This has been seen in several recent high-profile cases.”
The Supreme Court ruling stated that it was “wrong” for the Court of Appeal to refuse a one-day reduction of the accused’s sentence on the basis that the accused had a prior criminal conviction or on the belief that the accused had “abused the hospitality that [had] been afforded to him by Canada.” Reducing the accused’s sentence by one day would have lessened the impact on his immigration status….