DRUG DEALER FATHER'S APPEAL DENIED

The province's highest court has dismissed an appeal by a drug-dealer
father of two young children to have his prison sentence reduced to
decrease the likelihood of being deported.

Alberta Court of Appeal justices Connie Hunt, Peter Clark and Marsha
Erb ruled Tuesday that provincial court Judge Cheryl Daniel did not
err in imposing the 31/2-year sentence on Quan Hung To on April 30,
2002.

To, 36, who grew up in Vietnam and came to Canada in 1981, had claimed
he only became involved in the drug trade to support his one young
child at that time.

He had pleaded guilty to six counts of trafficking in crack cocaine
after being caught with a total of 45 packages of the highly addictive
illicit drug, valued on the street at $80 to $450 each.

He was served with an automatic deportation order after being released
on parole, as the minister of citizenship said he met the "serious
criminality" definition because he was sentenced to more than two
years in jail.

The defendant argued that the immigration laws making the deportation
order automatic only came into effect after he was sentenced,
therefore could not be done retroactively.

However, the appellate court said it was not persuaded the sentencing
judge would have imposed a lesser sentence, even if she was in a
position to consider the changes ultimately made to Canada's
immigration laws.

Daniel, noting the charges are subject to up to life imprisonment, had
said the drug "spawns derivative crime and health costs and societal
costs that are devastating to our community."