Scenario 1:

File: James Singh (J.S.)

File No.: 02545

Charge(s): Robbery, Robbery with an Imitation Firearm, Assault with a weapon

Arrest Date: February 10, 2021

Date of Conviction: August 3, 2022

Jurisdiction: London, Ontario, Canada

Memo to Paralegal from Rangila Sengupta

Brief statement of Facts:

James Singh (hereinafter J.S.) arrived in Canada from Guyana on September 10, 2019. He was 15 years old when he arrived in Canada with his father, step-mother, and his 2 year-old half-sister. His step-mother was 4 months pregnant upon arriving to Canada. The family arrived on a visitors' visa. Subsequently, J.S. and his family began residing with a family friend in Malton, Ontario.

Client's History in Guyana:

J.S. was born in Guyana on July 5, 2005. His biological mother and father divorced in 2006 in Guyana when J.S. was one-years old. J.S. was raised by his mother, and had limited contact with his biological father, as his biological father resided in a town that was over 2 hours away from where he and his mother resided.

In May, 2011, when J.S. was approximately 5-6 years old, his mother died of breast cancer.

From May, 2011 to June, 2016, J.S. lived with a variety of different maternal relatives in Guyana. However, in 2016, his uncle (who was the last relative J.S. resided with in Guyana, before moving to his biological father's home) felt that the financial burden of caring for J.S. was becoming too great for his maternal relatives and requested that his father take custody of him.

In October, 2016, J.S. went to reside at his father's home in Guyana. J.S. had never resided with his father in the past and experienced some physical (corporal) discipline from his father. He claims that his father had beaten him with a rolling pin for misbehaving. There is also indication that while living with his father in Guyana, a family friend had sexually abused him. However, J.S. does not speak in any detail about the physical abuse by his father, nor the sexual abuse he experienced by his father's friend.

In December, 2016, his father met his step-mother in Guyana. J.S.' father and step-mother married in July of 2017; and, they had their daughter (J.S.' half-sister) in December of 2017. J.S. was treated as a nuisance by his step-mother and biological father. In fact, J.S. was responsible for the majority of the house-hold chores, as his step-mother was pregnant and experienced frequent exhaustion. In May, 2019, J.S.' step-mother was pregnant with her second child.

Client's History in Canada:

J.S. and his family arrived in Canada on September 10, 2019 on visitors' visas. They stayed in an airport motel upon arrival.

J.S.' father contacted his friend, Richard, who had been living in the GTA for over 10 years and is a Canadian citizen. Richard rents a basement apartment in a house in Malton. Richard resides in Malton with his landlady and her son who was 13 years-old. After seeking permission from his landlady, Grace; Richard invited J.S. and his family to stay at the address in Malton, until J.S' family could find other accommodations.

On February 10, 2020, J.S.' step-mother gave birth to her second child, who is named Sheryl Singh, at a local hospital in Peel region.

J.S. and his family resided with Grace and Richard until August, 2020. During this time-frame J.S., and Grace's son, Roger, became good friends. J.S. and Roger were enrolled in the same school. Grace felt that J.S. was a good influence as he is mild-mannered and soft-spoken. In contrast, Roger, Grace's son, has a history of significant behavioural issues.

Grace (landlady) and Richard (J.S.' dad's friend) made several observations while J.S. and his family resided with them in Malton. They observed that J.S. was responsible for a great deal of the chores related to his family. J.S. was responsible for doing his family's laundry, getting groceries, and cleaning up after his half-sisters and his step-mother.

Having made these observations, in August, 2020, Grace invited J.S. to stay on at her home in Malton, instead of joining his family in their new apartment in Vaughn, Ontario, rent-free. J.S.' father did not like the idea of J.S. residing with Grace. However, J.S. insisted that he was now 16 years-old, and wanted to continue living at the address in Malton for continuity. Therefore, he remained in Grace's home.

Client's Immigration History:

In October, 2019 J.S.' family made a Humanitarian and Compassionate (hereinafter, H & C) application under s.25 of IRPA with the IRB.

In March, 2020, Sheryl Singh, J.S.' Canadian born half-sister, was diagnosed with congenital heart disease for which she requires treatment that she cannot receive in Guyana.

Hence, the outstanding H & C claim was updated in April, 2020 with requisite medical documents to support their claim.

The H & C claim remains outstanding.

Client's Criminal History:

On February 10, 2021, J.S. was in the company of now 14 year-old Roger. Roger invited J.S. to join him and his older friends to smoke marijuana.

At approximately 11:00 a.m. J.S. and Roger abandoned their online classes (covid-related) and joined Roger's 2 male friends in a white Pontiac G-5 that had attended their home in Malton.

J.S. smoked marijuana with Roger and his friends, who then drove them to London, Ontario. One of the adult males, pulled out an imitation firearm, and stated to J.S. and Roger that they ought to get their covid masks on and pull up their hoodies above their toques, as they were going to rob a CIBC bank they'd been scoping for a few weeks.

J.S., Roger, and the two adult males disguised themselves with face masks, pulled up their hoodies, and entered the CIBC bank in London, Ontario at approximately 1:30p.m.. The bank's surveillance depicts the 4 males going into the bank.

One of the male parties (not J.S.) is seen pointing a firearm at the tellers and customers telling them to "get down". The 3 other male parties are seen zip tying the tellers and ushering the customers to a room with no surveillance footage. The 3 male parties cannot be identified except for their clothing. J.S. is alleged to be the party wearing black, white, and red Nike Air Jordan's.

The 4 male parties are captured on surveillance taking cash out of the till and the money dispenser and fleeing the bank on foot. Further surveillance from outside of the bank capture the 4 males getting into a white Pontiac G5 and fleeing the scene going East on the 401.

London police arrive at the bank and immediately contact security to begin tracking the male parties. Unbeknownst to the robbers, the monies taken from the bank contained a tracking device. The tracking device led to the townhouse complex in Malton at approximately 3:40p.m..

At approximately 3:44 p.m. Peel Regional Police began investigating the scene upon receiving information from London Police Services. At approximately 4:00 p.m. 2 of the 4 males are placed under arrest. They were both adults, aged 18, and 19 years-old. The two young persons were arrested outside their town house in Malton as they attempted to flee from the area of their backyard.

The two young persons placed under arrest were J.S. and Roger. J.S. was wearing black, white and red Air Jordon's, as captured on the surveillance of the CIBC bank in London, Ontario upon arrest.

On August 3, 2022, J.S. provided instructions that he wished to plead guilty to one count of robbery on the first day of his trial. He provided his criminal lawyer with written instructions and was advised that there may be immigration consequences as a result of the guilty plea by his lawyer.

J.S. provided instructions to his criminal lawyer that he wished to proceed with the guilty plea to one-count of robbery, understanding that he would have an entry on his youth record, and that there could be immigration consequences.

J.S. was sentenced to 6 months in open custody under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, followed by 18 months of probation.

Current Immigration Situation:

J.S. contacted Sengupta Professional Law Corporation on September 6, 2022. He informed Ms. Rangila Sengupta that he had discharged his previous immigration lawyer and would like to hire her for a legal opinion.

J.S. wants a legal opinion about what immigration consequences he faces. He has been convicted of one indictable offence that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison: therefore, rendering J.S. inadmissible under IRPA.

Issues:

Would there be legal validity of a deportation order considering the evidence of serious criminality?

Whether there are sufficient humanitarian and compassionate grounds to warrant special relief considering all the circumstances of the case?

Please provide a thorough legal analysis of the following:

Please refer to the relevant sections of IRPA and provide an analysis of whether J.S. is removable for serious criminality, even though he is a young person and plead guilty to robbery under the Youth Criminal Justice Act?

Does IRPA distinguish between adults versus youth records when assessing inadmissibility for serious criminality.

What are the Ribic factors?

How would the Ribic apply to J.S.?

Find case law and a brief analysis of the likely outcome regarding J.S. remaining in Canada?