POLICE NEED SUPPORT IN DRUG CRACKDOWN

The Courts And Immigration Canada Must Do Their Part

When Vancouver police started cracking down on drug trafficking in the
Downtown Eastside three months ago, many people worried that the
problem would simply move to other parts of the city.

To some extent, it has. Many drug dealers have moved into the central
business district of downtown Vancouver.

So we're pleased to see evidence that the police, aware that this is
what would happen, had a plan to deal with drug traffickers when they
set up shop in new areas. After an extensive undercover operation in
July, the VPD has issued 40 arrest warrants.

What a pity, then, that all the hard work of the police will be for
naught if the courts and Immigration Canada don't start doing their
jobs properly. Specifically, we mean handing down long jail terms and
swiftly deporting failed refugee claimants and permanent residents
with criminal convictions.

According to Inspector Kash Heed of the police drug section, of the 40
people apprehended in July, 85 per cent had previous drug convictions,
and most were foreign nationals. Also, he notes, "a number of them are
of interest to Canada Immigration."

What's depressing is that these statistics are so predictable.

Vancouver police Constable Gerry Wickstead notes that a study of 70
Vancouver-area criminals in 2001 showed each with an average of 77
charges, 52 convictions and five parole violations.

And as far as jail terms for drug traffickers in Vancouver go, the
sentences average just 50 to 60 days -- not a deterrent by any stretch
of the imagination.

There's more.

During a sweep in 2000, Vancouver police arrested a large number of
drug dealers, among them a disproportionate number of failed refugee
claimants, many of whom were on bail for previous drug offences.

In our view, any foreign criminals who've been convicted in Canada
should be put on a plane back to their own countries, not left to roam
our streets selling more drugs.

But Immigration Canada has been inept at enforcing the deportation
orders. Of the more than 40,000 ordered out of the country over the
past seven years, 80 per cent are still here, says the federal
auditor-general. And immigration officials don't even know where most
of them are.

This is intolerable. In the past, Immigration Canada could at least
share the blame for its laxness with the country's legal system.

In the Pushpanathan case four years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada
ruled that drug dealers who are caught with millions of dollars worth
of illegal drugs and who have spent some time behind bars are still
entitled to claim refugee status. To boot, the Supreme Court said they
should be afforded all protections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But in a 9-0 decision last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the
federal government can deport refugees who say they fear torture in
their own country if they pose a serious security risk. While that
decision concerned anti-terrorism legislation and not drug laws, it
does make it much easier for immigration officials to do their jobs.

With 13 per cent of the country's population, British Columbia
accounts for 24 per cent of Canada's drug offences.

If this is to change for the better -- if we're to stop being the
destination of choice for drug traffickers -- it's not just the police
who have to do their job effectively. The courts and the immigration
department must start doing their part, too.