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This Fall, the Conservative Party will introduce legislation aimed at amending the Criminal Code to prohibit judges from factoring immigration status into sentencing decisions for non-citizens — a measure they say will “restore the value of Canadian citizenship.”

“Anyone seeking residence or citizenship in Canada has responsibilities as well as rights,” Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner said Wednesday in Ottawa. “When it comes to sentencing non-citizens. Canada has essentially adopted a form of two-tiered justice, where judges can and have given lighter sentences to individuals who are non-citizens by virtue of this ruling. This offends all principles of fairness that should be foundational to our justice system.” 

On yesterday’s Buffalo Roundtable livestream, Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle discussed the proposed legislation and its chances of success. 

“Our justice system, just like so many other public institutions, has been infiltrated by people who would subject their personal ideologies upon the courts,” said Lise. “This is a great example, and I hope that we can we can get it done, but also apply it to every other place where there is two-tier justice in this country.” 

“Just let's play the other side of this,” Sheila added. “Could you imagine a Canadian citizen convicted of sex offences against a minor, thus successfully arguing to a judge, ‘Give me a conditional sentence that expunges my record after 18 months… because I want to travel to the United States and a criminal record won't allow that for me.’ He would be laughed out of the courtroom!”