Question:
I know a woman, a landed immigrant
since the age of 6. She recently
was sentenced for trafficking a
very small (single use size) package
of cocaine. She has been deported.
She has 3 children who she can never
again visit, they must travel to
her(she is divorced). She can never
go visit her parents or 2 brothers.
She knows almost no-one in her country
of birth, has no funds, no job,
no identification from her country
of birth. Should her birth country
be forced to support her until she
can obtain documents etc.? Is this
fair?
Answer:
We, as a society, have decided that
drugs, or at least, hard drugs,
are such a danger to the public
peace and welfare that harsh penalties
must be enacted against those who
traffic in them. Other nations,
and not a few of them, consider
our laws quite lax. They believe
the danger is such that draconian
laws are needed. People have been
executed for trafficking cocaine
in other jurisdictions. Frankly,
I think Canada is better off without
this woman.
She has
3 children who she can never again
visit. I doubt that. I doubt
the government refused her permission
to bring her children with her.
I'm betting she made the decision
to leave them here.
They must
travel to her(she is divorced).
She can never go visit her >
parents or 2 brothers. Tough
luck.
She knows
almost no-one in her country of
birth, has no funds, no job, no
identification from her country
of birth. Should her birth country
be forced to support her until she
can obtain documents etc.? Is this
fair? Who said life is fair?
But yes, this is rather fair compared
to many of life's other difficulties.
She made a conscious decision to
traffic in cocaine. She certainly
knew the risks of arrest, and unless
she was a complete moron had to
know that as an immigrant she faced
the possibility of deportation if
convicted. She decided to take those
risks. Now ask me about the fairness
of another immigrant who was holding
down two jobs to feed his family
being murdered one night by a junkie
desperate for money for cocaine.
