(file photo/CKOM News)

By Susan McNeil

Deportation for UK citizen

Woman from Humboldt faces deportation after multiple convictions

Jun 11, 2024 | 12:10 PM

A UK citizen who moved to Humboldt when she was 13 has lost her attempt to overturn criminal convictions that could see her deported.

Rachael Johnson pleaded guilty in 2021 to multiple crimes involving the creation of counterfeit money, but asked to have the pleas withdrawn after being told by the CBSA that she would be deported.

“I did not know that pleading guilty to the counterfeiting charges would result in immigration consequences for me,” said Johnson in an affidavit that was quoted in a written decision issued by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal yesterday.

“I knew that being convicted of certain criminal offences may trigger immigration consequences. However, I had no reason to suspect that would occur in this case.”

Johnson was born in England in 1983 and moved with her mother and siblings to Canada in 1996 to join her father who was already here. The family moved to Humboldt.

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In 2001, she became a permanent resident when she turned 18. No evidence was given that she ever sought Canadian citizenship.

In 2010, Johnson was told by the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) that they were starting deportation proceedings after she was convicted of several crimes, including possessing stolen property and trafficking in a controlled substance.

She appealed the order on compassionate grounds and was successful mainly because she was the primary caregiver for her six-year-old son who was a Canadian citizen.

The following year CBSA officials warned her in a letter that the conditional stay allowing her to remain in Canada could be terminated if she was convicted of any more crimes.

Despite the reprieve, Johnson was again convicted of possession of a controlled substance in 2013 and then charged in 2019 with counterfeit money charges.

In 2022, the CBSA told Johnson that her ability to remain in Canada was no longer certain. Because of the nature of the crimes she pleaded guilty to and the possible sentence, Canadian law does not allow her to appeal the deportation order.

Instead, she asked the Court of Appeals to withdraw her guilty pleas to the counterfeit money charges.

Her argument had several takes. One that her lawyer had not told her she could be deported if she pleaded guilty, however, the court pointed out that her permanent resident status was not included in any of the court documents leading up to the case’s conclusion.

Her other grounds were that she couldn’t expect to be deported when none of her other convictions had resulted in a deportation actually happening.

That was not a defence the Appeal Court was willing to believe.

“In short, it is Ms. Johnson’s own evidence that, at the time of the guilty pleas she now seeks to withdraw, she knew that being convicted of certain criminal offences carried the possibility that the CBSA may attempt to deport her. This knowledge falls squarely within what is required to understand the relevant collateral immigration consequences of a guilty plea,” reads the decision.

The decision was unanimous amongst all three judges.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com