Forgiving Prison Sentences Avoiding Deportation

"The prison sentence has a much greater impact on the defendant than on other offenders who might have committed similar acts."

"In the particular circumstances of this case, there is no doubt that the consequences carry considerable gravity for the circumstances of the defendant, who is a permanent resident who has custody of four children."

Quebec Appeals Court judges Suzanne Gagne, Christine Baudouin, Genevieve Marcotte 

A sign for the Quebec Court of Appeal. It’s an established Canadian legal precedent that judges are required to consider the “collateral immigration consequences” of a criminal sentence. Photo by Adobe Stock

 

"When I tell people I was bit, they ask me what kind of animal, if it was by a pit bull. They can't believe it's a person who did this to me", said the unnamed woman who had the misfortune of being attacked in December of 2022 by a Haitian woman who bit her repeatedly outside a bar in Laval Quebec. A video of the assault shows the victim's hair being pulled, Monfiston kicking the woman's motionless form on the ground, straddling her body while biting her face.

 

When onlookers attempted to put a stop to the attack, Monfiston's boyfriend prevemted their efforts. The end result was that the woman was disfigured for life, and three years later,  after Monfiston pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 2025, a Court of Quebec judge sentenced her to four years in prison, a sentence that represented a fraction of the maximum 14-year sentence under the Criminal Code for a crime of this magnitude. 

 

Monfiston appealed the sentence and according to the Quebec Court of Appeal, four years represented a too-harsh punishment since Monfiston that would place her in danger of deportation. She has never sought Canadian citizenship despite having been two years of age when she arrived in Canada with her family. She had been a permanent resident of Canada for 35 years at the time she attacked the unnamed woman. According to court records she dropped out of high school at age 14, and since then her experience has been one of 'precarious employment' complicated by 'regular drug use' and criminal convictions.

 

In 2012 she was convicted of theft, and in 2014 of obstructing a peace officer. While awaiting a court date for her attack Facebook / Macdala Monfiston

In 2012 Monfiston was convicted of theft, and in 2014 of obstructing a peace officer. While awaiting a court date for her biting attack outside the Laval bar, she was convicted of drug possession in 2024. The Court of Appeal, making note of these convictions, took into account that hers were not violent offences. As a single mother of five children, of whom four children remain under her care, those circumstances lent weight to the Appeal Court's decision to award her a lighter prison sentence.

 

Anyone imprisoned for a crime in Canada for a period over two years, is considered to be guilty of 'serious criminality', losing appeal rights once a removal order has been delivered. The three judges were moved to hand down a sentence of two years less a day, shielding Monfiston from any potential loss of her immigration appeal rights. Canada established a legal precedent requiring judges to consider the "collateral immigration consequences" of a criminal sentece. 

 

Judges must weigh the fact there is risk if a criminal conviction ends up having a foreign national removed, and in recognition of that punishment environment, must reduce the punishment (sentence) accordingly for the offender. In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that lower courts fail to consider how sentences would render a vulnerable immigrant unable to appeal a removal order. As a result, a firm guideline was handed down of a sentence of two years less a day to be applied to criminal offences committed by foreigners in Canada.

 

Which effectively gives foreigners living in Canada who commit serious criminal offences a type of  forgiving mercy sentence that no ordinary white Canadian could ever hope to receive. A similar provision is also in effect for Indigenous Canadians and Canadian citizens of ethnic groups considered to be in less favoured social positions, such as Blacks and those arriving in Canada from the Middle East. A very particular 'progressive' form of justice that rewards minority criminals and victimizes their victims. 

 

Victim of Macdala Monfiston    le journal de montreal