Stephen Harper is tough on crime. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is tough on crime. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is tough on crime.
They鈥檙e especially tough on criminals who aren鈥檛 91原创 citizens.
It鈥檚 already federal policy to deport landed immigrants or temporary residents convicted of serious crimes as soon as they鈥檙e released from custody. Bill C-43, which rejoices in the absurdly literal name the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act, is before the Senate for second reading. It makes deportation of non-citizens who have served their sentences even more automatic.
But inflexible rules can have unintended consequences. Which leads us to the troubling case of Australian-born Allyson McConnell.
On or about Jan. 30, 2010, McConnell, who suffered postpartum depression, drowned her two sons, Connor, 2, and Jayden, 10 months, in her Millet, Alta., home, then tried to kill herself by jumping off a freeway overpass.
Last April, a court found her guilty of manslaughter. Alberta Court of Queen鈥檚 Bench Justice Michelle Crighton ruled that the Crown had not proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that McConnell had had the mental capacity to form the intent to kill.
Crighton sentenced McConnell to six years, a fairly typical manslaughter sentence. But the judge reduced that to 15 months, in recognition of the two-and-a-half years McConnell had already spent in custody in a psychiatric hospital.
The Crown immediately appealed both verdict and sentence. But seeking leave to appeal takes time. Thus far, Alberta鈥檚 Court of Appeal has not agreed to hear the case.
Ottawa wasn鈥檛 waiting.
On Oct. 18, 2012, the Immigration and Refugee Board issued a deportation order for McConnell. That her criminal sentence was under appeal made no difference to the federal process.
鈥淎n appeal of a criminal conviction does not stay a removal order,鈥� says Lisa White of the 91原创 Board Service Agency. 鈥淚t is our obligation to remove people from the country as soon as possible.鈥�
On April 5, McConnell, having served two-thirds of her sentence, and having earned remission through good behaviour, appeared via teleconference before an Immigration and Refugee Board detention review hearing in 91原创. She was deported to Australia three days later.
The province will now have to apply to extradite her from Australia for a possible new trial or sentence, should an appeal be granted.
The situation has outraged McConnell鈥檚 91原创 ex-husband and his family, and many ordinary citizens, and left provincial and federal politicians pointing fingers at each other.
Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis says prosecutors filed their appeals as quickly as possible.
Toews, on the other hand, issued a remarkably provocative statement, refusing to stay the deportation order and blaming Alberta for the situation.
鈥淚t is unfortunate that the Alberta government did not act prior to Ms. McConnell鈥檚 release to prevent this situation from occurring.鈥�
But Greg Lepp, the head of Alberta鈥檚 prosecution services, says only the Federal Court has the power to stay a deportation order. Even then, he says, the province had no right to request a stay of a legal federal order.
It鈥檚 more than a little ironic that the Harper government鈥檚 rigid 鈥渢ough on crime鈥� agenda actually helped this particular convicted killer depart the jurisdiction, her fate still before the courts, and all at federal expense.
Yet was justice really so poorly served by letting Allyson McConnell slip home to find peace? She was a desperately ill woman who stood trial, was duly sentenced and served her time. It clearly wasn鈥檛 enough punishment to satisfy Jayden and Connor鈥檚 grieving 91原创 relatives. What punishment could be? But while the death of these two children was unbearably tragic, our courts administer justice, not vengeance.
I suspect McConnell will go on punishing herself forever. She might be gone. I doubt she鈥檒l ever be free.
