Thank you.
I would just like to expand on my role here. I'm here as an immigration and refugee lawyer, but also in my capacity as an immigration lawyer. I have represented those who have been found to be criminally inadmissible to Canada, and I have gone to the Immigration Appeal Division to get a stay of removal for them, successfully in almost all cases. They give a conditional stay of removal, between two and five years depending on the severity of the crime, etc. Unfortunately, the majority of the clients I have represented reoffend or they breach their conditions. Then, when it's time to go back for another hearing, the minute I hear that they have reoffended and they've breached their conditions, I step away and I tell them, “I'm sorry, I can't represent you anymore.” I go through a lot of trouble, look at all the humanitarian and compassionate considerations, bring in their families, spend a lot of time, and I listen to their heart-felt apologies and promises, but time and time again they reoffend and they breach the conditions.
I have two or three clients left waiting for their hearings, and I have decided to remove myself from that area. This is based on the experience that I have had.
Now, I am here also as a naturalized Canadian, a mother and a grandmother, and a Canadian who's worried about the effects of criminality in Canada. I'm sure you've all heard the lists of all these people who've been in Canada, foreign nationals who have not been deported. One of the most outrageous examples would be Mugesera, the Rwandan war criminal who was found by the Supreme Court of Canada to be complicit in the genocide in Rwanda. He remains in Canada. They have still not been able to deport a war criminal implicit in genocide.
Then there's the classic case of Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad, a Palestinian terrorist who was found guilty but released in some kind of prisoner exchange. He made a bogus refugee claim, and then when his terrorist background was discovered, he was ordered deported in 1988. We're 2012. He's had appeal after appeal after appeal and he lives quite happily and contentedly in Toronto. His last appeal to Federal Court was based on health conditions—he claims he cannot get the same health care in his old age in his home country as he can here.
Then there's Masoud Boroumand. In 1985 he filed a refugee claim, and then was deported in 1993 after three heroin convictions, including being part of an international drug trafficking ring. Then he made another claim in 1994 and 1995, and they were rejected because they thought there'd be no risk for him to return to Iran. He got married and went underground for seven years. Nobody knew where he was. He reappeared, and when they finally found him, the IRB changed its position and decided that Iran was not so safe, so he was able to stay in spite of his many criminal convictions.
I'm not sure how many of you remember Charles Ng in the 1980s, the California murderer who came to Canada. He escaped California custody after having been convicted of murdering several women. He was a serial killer. He escaped to Calgary and made a refugee claim not based on his innocence, but based on the fact that he might face a death penalty if he would be returned to California. It had to go all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada, five or six years, millions and millions of dollars, before he was finally extradited.
I have a long list, if anybody's interested. There's Singh Khosa, this Sikh permanent resident in Vancouver, who lost control of his car when he was street racing. It took seven years to deport him. Seven years. He killed somebody in that accident. A very rich man. He wasn't somebody poor. A spoiled young man racing his car in the streets of Vancouver.
These are the reasons I support this bill. I really support this bill because criminals remain in Canada who are not Canadian, and it's almost impossible to deport them. There's no choice with Canadian citizens.
I dare say that if we had Adolf Hitler in Canada, it would take years and years to deport him back to Germany. That's how bad the system has become.
As my friend has said, there is the mental illness issue. First of all, all criminal judges take mental illness into consideration; they must. They also take humanitarian, compassionate, and immigration issues into consideration before passing sentences; they must. Criminal lawyers are very knowledgeable about the mental incapacity full defence against any criminal charge.
As for not being able to afford this...two of my clients had mental issues, and I used to go to the Royal Ottawa to prepare them for the hearing. They were on legal aid, which is readily available. I've gotten mental assessments done that were fully paid for by legal aid, as were my fees. So those services are available to deal with issues of mental health.
There are those who ask, should we deport people for a DUI, driving under the influence? When somebody's charged the first time with a DUI, simply over the limit but there's been no accident, no bodily harm, they're not sentenced to prison. They're given a $600 fine. I have the Criminal Code of Canada here, and it says for a first offence, “to a fine of not less than six hundred dollars”; a second offence, “to imprisonment for not less than fourteen days”. They're still not deportable. For each subsequent offence, “to imprisonment for not less than ninety days”. We're not at six months yet. But if it causes bodily harm and it causes death, then it's going to be a sentence of more than six months, and then they are subject to deportation, as they should be.
I thought perhaps a representative from MADD Canada would be here, because I think they would have something to say to this issue about DUIs and deportation. I support them generously, and I did speak to one of the directors there. They had no idea this was going on. She told me that perhaps somebody could still have one of them come as a witness, that they fully support deportation of foreign nationals who are found guilty of a DUI causing bodily harm or death.
I support Bill C-43, and I think there are enough safeguards in place for the mentally ill. Lawyers are available under legal aid for both the criminal justice system and the immigration system. I have been very active in this field for many years.