Under a proposed new law, thousands of permanent residents could lose their status and be deported for minor convictions, from shoplifting to traffic and drug offences, warn Canada’s top immigration lawyers. […]The federal government has always had the authority to strip landed-immigrant status from a permanent resident convicted of a serious crime, but Bill C-43 would allow appeals only for those sentenced to less than six months in jail, down from the current threshold of two years. […] According to Schreck, vice-president of the 1,200-member Ontario Criminal Lawyers Association, the net would now be cast broadly enough to include people committed of minor offences such as possession of marijuana plants.
Île-du-Prince-Édouard
