Corrections Canada says many of the 1,200 prisoners who are immigrants, refugees or visitors to Canada are now expected to go before the Parole Board to be considered for day parole, unescorted temporary absences and work release programs. The change means that foreign inmates, all of whom face deportation orders, could end up on the streets. Under the Immigration Act, the government cannot deport them until their sentence is complete.
Day parole is considered part of their sentence.
Immigration officials can argue before an adjudicator that the inmates are a flight risk or a danger to the public, but if they lose, the foreign inmates will be released on day parole. The change in Corrections Canada's policy stems from a case argued by David Matas, an immigration lawyer based in Winnipeg. His client, Arshad Mahmood Chaudhry, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for a 1994 drug trafficking conviction. Canadian inmates are entitled to do. He applied for judicial review and last spring, Federal Court Justice John Evans ruled in his favour, saying that denying jailed immigrants the chance to apply for day parole was discriminatory.