Conservative MP and shadow immigration minister Michelle Rempel Garner is calling on the federal government to amend the Criminal Code to prevent judges from imposing lighter sentences on non-citizens convicted of serious crimes to avoid triggering their deportation.
“Giving non-citizens who have been convicted of serious crimes in Canada lenient sentences to avoid deportation creates a two-tier justice system, where Canadian citizens are given harsher sentences than non-citizens who broke our laws,” Rempel Garner said during an Aug. 11 press conference on Parliament Hill.
Rempel Garner said lighter sentences for non-citizens send a “clear message” that it is “okay to break Canada’s laws with impunity,” when they are permitted to remain in the country after committing serious crimes such as sexual assault. She said a two-tiered justice system is “corrosive” to trust in public institutions and could lead to new immigrants to Canada all being “painted with the same brush.”…