Bill C-220 Immigration Status Sentencing
C-220 An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Immigration Status in Sentencing)
Bill Type: Private Member’s Bill
Bill Sponsor: Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill)
Status: Outside the Order of Precedence — First Reading September 17, 2025. This Bill hasn't passed yet.
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WHO GAINS POWER
- Courts gain a clear rule — immigration status is off the table as a sentencing consideration, removing ambiguity about whether judges can or should weigh it
- Parliament asserts that criminal sentences must be determined by the crime, not by the offender's citizenship or residency
WHO LOSES POWER
- Judges lose the ability to consider immigration consequences when crafting a sentence — even where deportation or loss of permanent residency would follow automatically
- Non-citizen offenders and their families lose any sentencing consideration tied to their immigration status — including cases where a lighter sentence might have kept a family together
- Defence lawyers lose a sentencing argument currently available to non-citizen clients
WHO GAINS MONEY
- No financial provisions in this Bill
WHO LOSES MONEY
- No financial provisions in this Bill
THE CATCH
- ⚠️ This Bill is unlikely to pass — it is an opposition Private Member's Bill introduced by a Conservative MP in a Liberal-majority Parliament
- ⚠️ Immigration consequences already exist separately — a criminal sentence can trigger automatic deportation proceedings under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act regardless of what a judge decides. This Bill removes judicial discretion but does not change those automatic consequences
- ⚠️ The Bill applies to family members too — a judge cannot consider the immigration impact on the offender's spouse or children, even if they are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who would be affected by deportation
- ⚠️ No definition of "immigration status" is included — it is unclear whether this covers refugee claimants, temporary residents, permanent residents or all non-citizens equally
- ⚠️ This cuts both ways — currently a judge could theoretically impose a harsher sentence knowing deportation would follow. This Bill removes that option too, which may not be the intent
- ⚠️ Charter implications are unaddressed — removing a mitigating factor from sentencing for a specific class of person (non-citizens) may raise equality rights questions under Section 15 of the Charter