Securing Canada Against Dangerous Foreign Criminals? Analyzing the Relationship between Severity of Sentence and Deportation on Grounds of Criminality

In June 2013, the Canadian government enacted the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act, which amended the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act by including “a number of provisions for strengthening the safety and security of Canadians”. Among other things, this Act limited the review mechanisms for foreigners who are inadmissible on grounds of serious criminality and by doing this it aims to accelerate the execution of deportation orders.

This paper discusses the crime-immigration nexus and the increasing importance of administrative forms of social control in the penal field. More particularly I will focus on the use of removal orders (deportations) on grounds of criminality in Canada, by analyzing procedural differences between criminal and immigration regimes and the relationship between severity of sentence and deportation. Based on an analysis of minutes and decisions of deportation hearings between 2014 and 2015, I will argue that the way in which criminality is framed in immigration law differs drastically from criminal law and that deportation is the outcome regardless of the severity of sentences imposed to foreigners. I will conclude that the Canadian immigration regime does not need to rely on criminal law in order to deport someone on grounds of criminality. It does so while ignoring the procedural safeguards and sentencing principles related to criminal law