Jail Time: Canada and Time

jail time: The justices also ruled that deciding whether a permanent resident is inadmissible to Canada depends on the maximum sentence on the books at the time they committed the offence and not at the time their immigration proceedings begin, according to CTV. Thursday's decision means the federal public safety minister must now decide anew whether Thanh Tam Tran, who came to Canada from Vietnam as a teenager decades ago, ought to have his permanent status reviewed in light of his criminal past. In an unanimous decision, the court said conditional sentences do not count as jail time when it comes to deciding whether permanent residents convicted of a crime should lose their status in Canada. Tran was convicted in 2012 for his role in running a marijuana grow-op. The government began a process to revoke his permanent residency under a section of immigration law that renders a person inadmissible to Canada if they're convicted of serious criminality, defined as an offence that carries a maximum 10-year penalty or a conviction that results in at least six months behind bars. At the time of his conviction, the offence carried a maximum 14-year jail term, but he was given a 12-month conditional sentence to be served in the community. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.