Success: Deportation Order Cancelled
Canadian immigration laws are tough on criminals. A person who has been convicted of a criminal offence may face serious issues on the criminal side. In fact, CIL has an entire side of our practice for “crimmigration” – this is the area that covers criminal law and immigration law. The overlap is significant so that lawyers need to understand many aspects of both areas of practice to give their clients good legal advice.
Our client is a “long term” Permanent Resident of Canada and a citizen of Portugal. This means that he has spent significant time in Canada after he emigrated from Portugal. He has strong family connections to Winnipeg and he has built his life on this side of the Atlantic. He loves Winnipeg and we put together a strong package of more than 100 pages of documents on his behalf that covered the relevant legal tests.
Our client also has a history of addiction. Addiction has been recognized as a condition that may be considered a “disability” in Canada. According to the Canadian Human Rights Commission:
In Canada, people use different terms to describe struggles with alcohol or drugs. The terms substance dependence, addiction, or substance use disorder are often used interchangeably. The Canadian Human Rights Commission (Commission) uses the term “substance dependence” to refer to previous or existing addiction or dependence on alcohol or drugs. Substance dependence is considered a disability under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
For our client, his addiction led to criminal activities and he faced multiple convictions. He was facing deportation from Canada and CBSA was taking steps to separate him from his family and friends in Manitoba.
Our client contacted CIL after he was convicted and sentenced. He served his time in prison. He already paid a heavy price for his mistakes. He came to us for help so that he would not be deported back to Portugal.
After much work and negotiations with CBSA, CIL successfully stopped his deportation. We love winning our cases. We love helping our clients.
Our client got a “warning letter” from CBSA and they closed his file. This means that he will not be deported and he will be able to stay in Winnipeg with his family. The CBSA Officer accepted that he has been sufficiently punished by the Canadian criminal system. Deportation was canceled.
