Crooked in Canada

Hear about that lawsuit filed against Stockwell Day because he is refusing to let two Canadian drug-traffickers finish serving their sentences in Canada despite being arrested, convicted and sentenced to do their time in the U.S.? What a joke.

That lawsuit is as ridiculous as it is for a Canadian doing time in U.S prison to think that he or she should be allowed to serve their prison sentence in Canada once the are convicted of a crime in a foreign country. That’s hilarious, and the lawyer who filed the lawsuit will have made a nice chunk of change by the time this case is laughed out of court, and that likely won’t happen for a long time. We all know how convicted criminals like to drag things out as long as they don’t have to pay for it, right?

The tab for this lawsuit, whether Winnie Lam and Steve Czinege win or not, is going to picked up by Canadian taxpayers. No doubt about it. If they do happen to win their case, then taxpayers will be on the hook for whatever compensation they are awarded too. Isn’t that rich, and what a cause for Canadian taxpayer’s to be paying the bill for.

We are talking about two people stupid enough to traffic in drugs across international borders who get busted in a country other then Canada for doing so. Lam, who was arrested with 1000 Ecstasy pills in her possession, and Czinege who was busted with 114 kilos of cocaine in his semi-trailer unit, deserve to serve out their entire sentences in the U.S., and if the don’t think that that’s fair, then they should have taken more seriously the consequences of their actions should they get caught.

Lam and Czinege are just two of the many Canadians who have been busted for international drug-trafficking, and there are plenty more of them.

FYI-In Australia Canada is recognized by the AFP as one of the main sources of drugs (Ecstasy) being smuggled into Australia. Shipments from Canada are high on the Australia Federal Police radar.

For me its a no-brainer and any Canadian convicted of drug-trafficking in another country should be held accountable by the country that they were busted in, and if that means they were busted in Indonesia or another Asian country where drug-traffickers could be executed if convicted for drug-trafficking, then so be it.

Again I ask, why should convicted Canadian Nationals be allowed to serve out their prison sentences in a place other than where they were arrested, convicted and sentenced.?

By the way, there are a few Canadians who are up on drug smuggling charges here in Australia, and were not talking about a small drug smuggling operation either. The Canadians that were arrested here are looking at some very serious prison time, and at the end of the day they are Australia’s problem, not Canada’s.

While I regret that Australian taxpayers will have to pick up the tab for their incarceration, it isn’t like the Australian government cannot go after them to recover that cost once they are released from prison.

Lam and Czinege are suing Stockwell Day because they feel that Day is blocking their repatriation. That is lame when you consider that nobody has said that they cannot return to Canada once they are released from their American jail. Unless they have been stripped of their citizenship, or the feds are preventing them from returning to Canada once they serve out their prison sentences, where does repatriation come into for Canadian Nationals convicted and incarcerated for a crime they commit in another country?

Repatriation my ass, this is about wanting to do easier time.

The only reason they are making that argument is because its the only one they have to offer in the hope of being transferred to Canada where they will either be released immediately into the community because of Canada’s lenient parole laws, or be allowed to serve out the remainder of the sentence in a prison that is a lot softer than the American one.  This isn’t about repatriation, it’s about not wanting to do hard time for the crimes they were convicted of.

Lam is serving a 7-year term for her conviction, and Czinege was facing a minimum 10-years prison after being convicted on January 18, 2007. I wasn’t able to find out what his final sentence was which was to be handed down in that same year, but he would have gotten at least 10 years.

Now supposing all the Canadians busted for drugs demanded that they be allowed to serve their sentences in Canada instead of the U.S., what would that cost Canadian taxpayers?

Hmm, for argument’s sake I am providing Crooked in Canada readers with a list of Canadians who have been convicted of drug offences in the U.S.  At a rate of say $45,000.00 per annum to Canadian taxpayers if the convicted Canadians were allowed to serve out the remainder of their sentences after serving 2 or three years in a U.S. prison; well you do the math.

1. January 19, 2005-Lakhvir Singh Lally, sentenced to 9 years in U.S. prison for smuggling more than 22 kilograms of Ecstasy into the U.S.
2. September 23, 2005-Zachary and Braydon Miraback arrested and charged with possession of nearly 1000 pounds of marijuana
3. November 3, 2005-Sarbjit Bassi-sentenced to four years prison after be convicted of possession of Ecstasy-290,000 pills to be exact. Likely back in Canada now.
4. February 6, 2006-Bhinder Singh Dhaliwal, sentenced to twelve years for attempting to smuggle 100,000 ecstasy pills into the U.S. While the sentence was much large than Bassi’s, there were mitigating circumstances, like the fact he paid another inmate to offer false testimony. Plot was uncovered at Federal Detention Center. Judge recommended he serve 96 months in prison.
5. June 16, 2006-5 First Nations members sentence to a total of 2 1/2 years in prison for attempting to smuggle marijuana into the U.S.
6. October 26, 2006-Four Canadian Nationals arrested after agents boarded their boat and found 465 pounds of Ecstasy. Based on some of the other sentences in this list so far, I bet these 4 guys get a big sentence.
7. November 16, 2006-Kimberley Rouse and three other Canadians arrested with 200lbs of marijuana. Marijuana was smuggled into the U.S. by boat. Sentencing was set for March 9, 2007
8. August 27, 2007-Buonmark Mysaengsay, convicted for conspiracy to distribute Ecstasy and three counts of distribution. Sentenced on Novemberb16, 2007. Was facing up 10 years in prison.
9. January 19, 2007-Stephen Czinege, minimum 10 years for cocaine trafficking. He was caught with 300 kgs of marijuana in Canada before being arrested with 112 kilograms of cocaine in three duffle bags by U.S. authorities.
10. July 19, 2007-Michael Dudas pleads guilty to marijuana trafficking. He faced at least 5 years in prison and not more than 40 years prison. Must serve at least 4 years of his sentence. Dudas was scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour on September 19, 2008.
11. July 18, 2008-Corey Wirsz sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison after being convicted of conspiring to distribute marijuana. Agents found $1.2 million (350 pounds) of BC Bud stashed in a hidden compartment under trailer floor.
12. August 29, 2008-James Leystra sentenced to 13 1/2 years in prison for smuggling 70 kilos of Ecstasy into the U.S.
13. September 5, 2008-Kyle Gianis sentenced to 13 years in prison for attempting to smuggle 50 kilos of ephedrine into the U.S. Gianis had been ejected out of Mexico by the Mexican government, and was arrested in December 2007, four years after the initial indictment was handed down. Ephedrine is used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine.

As you can tell by the above list, if all of the people on that list were allowed to serve out their sentences in a Canadian prison it would cost Canadian taxpayers a considerable amount of money.  Wouldn’t you agree, and wouldn’t that money be better spent on something other than convicted Canadian Nationals who have no respect for another country’s laws?

The above list doesn’t even account for all the Canadian Nationals in various foreign prisons around the world, but that’s only because I can’t be bothered to look up all the data. Regardless of how many Canadian Nationals are doing their time in a foreign country, my argument will remain the same. Canadian taxpayers should not be on the hook for another Canadian’s criminal lifestyle.

If all the convicted Canadian Nationals asked to serve out their sentences in Canada (and all of them likely have at some point or another during their sentences), it would be quite a hefty bill for Canadian taxpayers to pay if the were allowed to serve their time in a Canadian prison. The Canadian government is doing the right thing by not allowing some convicted Canadian Nationals (not all of them) to serve out their sentences in Canada. It just costs way too much money, and besides it’s hardly worth the effort when the said Canadian National has nothing to offer in return except a promise not to commit a crime in a foreign country again.

There is nothing to be gained by allowing all Canadian Nationals in foreign prisons to do their time in Canada. Absolutely nothing.

Need I say more as to why I don’t support bringing back convicted Canadian felons to serve their sentences in Canada-huh, do I?

Lam and Czinege, the two morons who have filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government and Stockwell Day, are playing the system, trying to milk the Canadian government and taxpayers for as much as they can get out of them, if only because the can and they are bitter towards the fact that the Canadian government isn’t helping them out as much as they think they should be.

Have those two morons forgotten the how and the why they ended up in a U.S. prison in the first place?  Lam and Czinege did it to themselves, they are the makers of their own fate, and they should do their time in a U.S. prison. They didn’t commit their crime in Canada, though their crime did originate in Canada , but they did get caught committing a crime in the U.S. They earned the right to be punished in the American justice system, and they earned their spot in a American prison.

Why should Canada bail them out so to speak?

Suing the Canadian government and Stockwell Day because Lam and Czinege don’t want to do their time in the U.S. correctional system. That is too funny.  If they didn’t want to do the time in the U.S., they shouldn’t have committed the crime in the U.S.

Lam and Czinege are a couple of cons who want to serve out their time in Canadian prisons because life would be easier for them in a Canadian prison compared to live in an American prison. They are suing the feds because lawyers, not the law, say they can.  That’s just f**ked people. I think this case will be tossed by the way.

While Stockwell Day’s argument will be that Lam and Czinege pose a threat to Canadian security, the argument should be made that spending taxpayer’s money to bring back convicted Canadian felons doing time in a foreign prison is not any part of any reason Canadian’s pay taxes. Not only that, the cost will be very high and the money to bring back Canadian Nationals who are serving prison sentences abroad so that they can serve their sentences in Canada is an expensive venture, and quite frankly not anybody’s problem but the imprisoned Canadian National.

Their arrest, trial, conviction and sentencing has nothing do with the federal government or Canadian taxpayers, nor should it. Like I said, do the crime in a foreign country, do the time in that foreign country. Canadians aren’t responsible, nor should they be made responsible for Canadian Nationals who have committed crimes and are doing time in a place other than Canada.

If convicted Canadian Nationals want to serve out their sentences in Canada the following conditions should be met: they agree to pay for each day they serve in a Canadian prison (about $45,000.00 a year), they agree pay for their parole supervision, they agree to pay their own legal fees, they agree to pay for their own transportation back to Canada, and they agree to pay for the accompanying police escorts.

If convicted and incarcerated Canadian Nationals agree to those conditions then I don’t have a problem with them serving out the sentences in Canada, but I draw the line when it comes to convicted Canadian Nationals expecting the federal government and Canadian taxpayers to pick up the tab for them.

Lam and Czinege’s case shouldn’t be allowed to proceed, period. It nonsensical and a waste of Canadian taxpayer’s money.

It’s a frivolous lawsuit.

Related Crooked in Canada Articles

Canadian Drug Smugglers in Australia: The Bust
Catching Up on an Old Story
Canadian Drug Smugglers: Yet Another Canadian Busted For Drugs in Oz
Another Dumb Canadian Drug Trafficker Busted in Australia-’What, is Canada crawling with dumb traffickers or what?’