SEND CRIMINALS PACKING AT FIRST OPPORTUNITY

When critics of the immigration policies of Canada need evidence to
expose the problems with our system, they may not have to look much
farther than a local court case.

It involved the recent sentencing of a Vietnamese national, in Canada
sufficiently long enough to hook up with several other men and
establish a marijuana growing operation - or grow-op.

Khoa D. Tran, of Toronto, pleaded guilty in a Belleville criminal
court recently to a single count of production of cannabis marijuana
for the purpose of trafficking.

Tran spent 87 days in pre-trial custody, and will remain in custody at
the request of Canadian immigration officers.

Justice Geoff Griffin imposed a joint submission consisting of a
one-year conditional sentence in the community. The first six months
will be spent under house arrest. Tran will be allowed to leave home
to attend school or work, medical or dental appointments, for
religious purposes, and two hours a week to get groceries.

Tran will be subject to a police door-knock policy. He's not allowed
to possess equipment or fertilizer which might be suitable for growing
cannabis, and is not to associate with anyone, or be anywhere, as
directed by his supervisor of conditional sentences.

After the six-month house arrest Tran is subject to a 10 p.m. to 6
a.m. curfew. He's on probation for two years during which he must make
a $5,000 charitable donation. He's also subject to a 10-year weapons
ban.

Tran, not surprisingly - on learning of the comparatively lenient
sentence he was given, considering he could have significantly more
severe penalties for growing marijuana in his native Vietnam - told
the judge through an interpreter he'd like to remain in Canada.

Justice Griffin then informed Tran that as a result of his sentence
calling for house arrest and because he's been ordered to remain under
house arrest, he gets to stay longer in Canada.

"The irony here is that by giving you a conditional sentence you'll
likely be able to stay in Canada longer than otherwise might happen.
If I said seven days (in jail) immigration would likely have you back
on a plane to Saigon."

Surely, a conviction for having been in the country barely long enough
to meet up with other narcotics entrepreneurs and to tend a three-acre
pot plot in Tweed and his subsequent arrest would mean the likes of
Tran should indeed be put "back on a plane to Saigon."

But, it's a sad and somewhat strange commentary on our justice and
immigration systems that Tran's transgressions of the laws of this
country permit him to stay here long enough to serve a reasonably
light sentence - even considering his 87 days in custody, a stretch
imposed only at the urging of immigration officials.

Did Tran's activities - the growing and harvesting of three acres of
pot - in any way reflect the actions of a person who has an earnest
desire to be a contributing member of society in Canada?

We think not.

We would suggest Tran and anyone else who finds illicit drug
production as a way to bide their time while awaiting citizenship
should find their visa invalidated post-haste and, in the words of the
learned judge, "back on a plane" to wherever they came from.

There are far too many honest, hard-working people who want to come to
Canada and attain citizenship than to allow the likes of Tran to be
rewarded with citizenship through the jailhouse door.