Canada has deported close to 19,000 foreign criminals and security threats from the country in the last decade and many of them are being booted to the most dangerous places on Earth.
Figures from the Canada Border Services Agency show that hundreds of deportees have been dispatched to places like Haiti, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
That's despite a general prohibition on deportations to those countries, which are the five currently listed on Canada's Temporary Suspension of Removals list.
Criminals are not protected by any such amnesty and at least 555 people have been deported to listed countries since 1999, according to federal figures.
The list exists to ensure people are not deported to places where war or natural disaster could prove life-threatening, but the CBSA offers no apologies for making exceptions in these cases.
"Our position is clear, Canada will not be a safe haven to those who endanger the safety and security of Canadians," agency spokeswoman Patrizia Giolti said in an e-mail.
"During a temporary suspension of removals, CBSA continues to remove criminals, national security cases, war criminals and individuals who have committed crimes against humanity."
Figures show criminal and security removals represent only a small fraction - 16 per cent - of all deportations from Canada. Just over 115,000 people have been deported since 1999.
Stewart Istvanffy, a Montreal lawyer who has represented thousands of hopeful migrants during his 20-year career, said he's all for kicking heinous criminals out of the country.
But he believes some of these so-called thugs are facing unjust removal for minor drug or shoplifting offences.
He has seen a number of cases involving young local Haitians who wind up with minor criminal records after turning 18, and become targets for deportation.
"The police come to them and say they're gang members and often they're not, but they treat them all like public dangers," Istvanffy said.
"Somebody who came here when they were two years old and they've lived all their life here and they discover they're not Canadian when immigration tells them at age 20 that they want to deport them, I don't think they should be deported."
Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, shares his concerns.
She recalls a case a few years ago involving a Congolese teenager who was nearly separated from his entire family and sent back to the Congo for shoplifting. The removal did not proceed, she said, although the incident raised many questions.
"We certainly have concerns about it being very broad in terms of any kind of criminality," she said.
Istvanffy cites the case of a Congolese man who spent 15 years in Canada before being slated for deportation. He says his troubles stemmed from a 10-year-old fraud conviction for cashing a false cheque - a crime committed during the man's early 20s for which he paid a small fine.
"This is a guy who has solid reasons for being in real danger of detention, torture and possible death and, because of being found guilty of one small criminal offence, the (Temporary Suspension of Removal) moratorium does not apply to him," Istvanffy said.
"That type of case, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I've seen about a half-dozen like that."
Canada ushered in tougher legislation to make it easier to deport non-citizens after the infamous 1994 Just Desserts killing in Toronto.
The incident involved a young woman who was shot to death during a botched robbery at a cafe. The three men charged in the case were Jamaican citizens who had been living in Canada since they were children. Only one of them was eventually deported.
Istvanffy said Canada's attitude toward foreign criminals got even harsher when the Immigration Act was overhauled in June 2002.
He believes even non-citizens ought to benefit from the principle of proportionality - that the punishment ought to fit the crime - and that Immigration and Refugee Board officials aren't doing a good enough job finding that balance.
Source : The Canadian Press - 2009
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