Second Chances

Dept: An immigrant who is sentenced to six months or more in jail but less than two years will be ordered deported, too, but he will have a chance to appeal on the basis, essentially, that he deserves a second chance. Such second chances, when they are granted, are only conditional. The execution of the deportation order is merely postponed for a set number of years to see if the individual can stay out of trouble and live productively. Only once such an individual has proven himself worthy is the execution of the order permanently postponed, according to The Star. The vast majority of individuals who are given these second chances prove worthy and eventually earn permanent postponement of the execution of the deportation orders made against them. The minority who fail and are deported can be held to have failed, for example, simply for not having found gainful employment or not having reported a change of address and currently, an immigrant to Canada who has not yet acquired his citizenship and is convicted of a criminal offence and given a sentence of two years or more in jail will be ordered deported at the completion of his sentence without any possible appeal of the order. These second chances are difficult to win. It used to be that only one of a panel of three judges that heard these appeals had to decide an appellant worthy for him to win a second chance. Now only one judge hears them. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.