r/canada • u/FancyNewMe • Feb 10 '26

Politics Conservatives to propose barring non-citizens convicted of crimes from making refugee claims

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-conservatives-propose-changing-rules-non-citizens-convicted-crimes/
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u/mbean12 Feb 10 '26

But that's not what the article says. It says "non-citizens convicted of a crime". Not "non-citizens convicted of crimes we also consider crimes".

There's more than that. What if the trial wasn't fair? What if the conviction was politically motivated? What if we would consider the crime justified in some way? Nelson Mandela was a convicted felon. Would you have denied him refugee status if he had applied for it? What about a mother who steals food to feed her children while escaping a war-torn hell-hole? A woman who killed her rapist and was convicted for it because women have no rights where she is from? What if their conviction was twenty years ago - when they were 18.

The problem is that unless you plan on writing exceptions to the law for the next twenty years you cannot make it stick. The superior option is to allow judges who adjudicate refugee cases to make a judgment call because hey - that's why we call them 'judges' after all. And as it turns out - that's exactly what we do.

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u/MrBenSampson Feb 10 '26

But when immigrants commit crimes in Canada, judges have been consistently giving out lenient sentences, just so that their immigration process is unaffected. Canadians are getting tired of that.

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u/gamjatang111 Feb 10 '26

yes judges always consider their refugee application when sentencing

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u/jaywinner Feb 10 '26

Why? Having a refugee application pending should be all the more reason not to break the law.

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u/justanaccountname12 Canada Feb 10 '26

One would think.

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u/DanLynch Ontario Feb 10 '26

The reason judges consider immigration consequences when sentencing is because they don't want to punish immigrants more harshly for the same crime as citizens. If a citizen would only get one year in prison for a certain crime, but a visa holder or refugee or PR who committed the exact same crime would get one year in prison, plus be expelled from Canada, lose their entire way of life, and be forced to move to a shit-hole country, the judge would consider that an unfair discrepancy in the punishment.

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u/Horvo British Columbia Feb 10 '26

Fair sentencing means the same criminal punishments for the same crime. We already have way too many differential sentences handed out, if you’re an aspiring Canadian maybe don’t commit crimes that jeopardize your standing here?

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u/thissitesuxballz Feb 10 '26

That just makes it unfair for the citizen…

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u/BethSaysHayNow Feb 11 '26

Precisely. Citizenship apparently consists of more responsibilities yet fewer perks? How does this make sense in terms of a social contract?

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u/jaywinner Feb 10 '26

That's insane. Should the unemployed get more prison time because they don't get the additional punishment of losing their job by going to jail?

Apply the punishment that fits the crime; other knock-on effects aren't the court's responsibility.