CCPR/C/113/D/2091/2011
requested the State party not to deport the author while his case was under consideration by
the Committee.
1.3
On 29 February 2012, the State party informed the Committee that its Permanent
Mission in Geneva had received the notification of the Committee’s interim measures
request in the morning of 29 August 2011 and that it promptly forwarded it to appropriate
officials in Ottawa, where it was received at 9.36 a.m. Ottawa time. However, the request
was received too late to stop the deportation, as the author’s flight to Jamaica had been
scheduled to depart on the same day at 9.25 a.m. The author arrived in Jamaica in the
afternoon of 29 August 2011.
The facts as presented by the author
2.1
As the author is unable to appreciate the nature of legal proceedings or instruct
counsel, M.R., his niece, was appointed as his litigation guardian. She instructed his legal
representative to represent him in domestic proceedings and in the procedure before the
Committee.
2.2
The author went to Canada as a landed immigrant on 27 October 1980 at the age of
18. In 1993, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and subsequently admitted as
an inpatient at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto for a year and a half.
Thereafter, he was treated on an outpatient basis, under supervision. The author also suffers
from diabetes.
2.3
Following his release from the Centre in 1995, the author lived independently and
without incident until 2005. His history of criminal behaviour began in 2005, when he was
evicted from his apartment and started living in shelters. It became difficult for him to
manage his schizophrenia and diabetes and comply with his treatment. This resulted in
relapses of his schizophrenic symptoms and problems with the judicial system.
2.4
In 2005, the author was found guilty of assault with a weapon, and assault, and
received a sentence of one day in jail, in addition to 80 days of pre-sentence custody. In
2006, he was found guilty of failing to appear. He was detained by the Canada Border
Services Agency in May 2007 and remained on immigration hold until his subsequent
removal to Jamaica. After an admissibility hearing held on 24 April 2007, the Immigration
and Refugee Board ordered his deportation as a result of his conviction for assault with a
weapon. An appeal against this decision was filed before the Immigration Appeal Division
and dismissed on 31 January 2008. It was noted that the author had committed three
assaults in 2005 in a few months; that starting in 2003, he had refused injections and took
pills only; and that there was no medical evidence to explain the deterioration of his
condition, or to suggest that a change in medication could stabilize his condition in order to
ensure that he would be less likely to re-offend. The Division stressed the seriousness of the
offence and determined that the prospects of rehabilitation were low, while risks to the
general public were high. As for the author’s family in Canada, the evidence before the
Division was that the author had contact with one sister in Canada but had not seen his
other brothers and sisters in Canada for years. 1 The author had a son in Canada, but had not
seen him in many years and did not even know his name. The Division determined that
there would be no dislocation of the family if the author was removed. The author had
provided no evidence to the Division as to the degree of hardship that he might experience
if he was returned to Jamaica. The author’s leave to appeal for judicial review was denied
by the Federal Court on 3 June 2008.
1
The author has four sisters, one brother and one niece in Canada.
3