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rfmcdonaldConrad Black, former Canadian citizen and conservative pundit and press baron, currently a British citizen who is still a pundit but who is also serving hard time in an American prison, is going to be released from prison soon.
Conrad Black is Canadian-born, and was a Canadian citizen from birth. Black famously renounced his citizenship for Britain's in 2001, following the outcome of the case Black v. Chrétien wherein the Canadian courts confirmed that the Canadian prime minister did have the right to ask the British queen not to confer titles of nobility on a Canadian citizen. Black's renunciation was made quite happily, accompanied by a denunciation of Canada generally. When he was hit with fraud charges, Black tried to regain his Canadan citizenship, but by the time he was sentenced to prison--amid a fair degree of happiness by Canadians unfond of Black--he was far from getting it.
The question now being asked, in the National Post he founded and in the Globe and Mail and in the Canadian Press, is how can Black come back to Canada? Black's unusual citizenship status was long noted as having strongly negative implications for his desire to live in Canada after his release, as I noted in a July 2010 [FORUM] post. As a convicted felon, the Canadian Press' Michelle McQuigge confirms, his options are few.
Will the Conservative government, long associated with Black and his late media empire, give him this temporary resident permit? Harper had promised back in the day not to, but that day was the day of his minority government. What might a majority government do? And what sort of reaction would it get if it gave Black this temporary residency? (What reaction would it get if it didn't?)
Fallen Canadian-born media tycoon Conrad Black is scheduled to be released from a U.S. prison by next weekend, according to corrections officials.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons online inmate locator lists Black's release date from Miami's Federal Correction Institution as next Saturday.
Bureau spokeswoman Tracy Billingsley told CBC News the date is only a "projected estimate" of a release date but is "generally accurate.'" But she added Black could be free as early as Friday.
"When a release date falls on a weekend, we can release them on the Friday prior to that weekend," Billingsley said Sunday.
Black, 67, was resentenced last June to 42 months in prison on fraud and obstruction of justice charges.
Black had already served 29 months in the Coleman federal prison in Florida before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down some of his initial convictions, citing a misuse of the "honest services" provision of the U.S. fraud statute. His original sentence was for 78 months in prison after multiple convictions on fraud and obstruction of justice charges.
Conrad Black is Canadian-born, and was a Canadian citizen from birth. Black famously renounced his citizenship for Britain's in 2001, following the outcome of the case Black v. Chrétien wherein the Canadian courts confirmed that the Canadian prime minister did have the right to ask the British queen not to confer titles of nobility on a Canadian citizen. Black's renunciation was made quite happily, accompanied by a denunciation of Canada generally. When he was hit with fraud charges, Black tried to regain his Canadan citizenship, but by the time he was sentenced to prison--amid a fair degree of happiness by Canadians unfond of Black--he was far from getting it.
The question now being asked, in the National Post he founded and in the Globe and Mail and in the Canadian Press, is how can Black come back to Canada? Black's unusual citizenship status was long noted as having strongly negative implications for his desire to live in Canada after his release, as I noted in a July 2010 [FORUM] post. As a convicted felon, the Canadian Press' Michelle McQuigge confirms, his options are few.
Joel Sandaluk, partner with immigration firm Mamann, Sandaluk and Kingwell Llp, said Black’s pending citizenship will be as complex, unusual and uncertain as his previous clashes with the North American justice system.
[. . .]
Black was born in Toronto, but gave up his citizenship in 2001 after being offered a peerage in Britain’s House of Lords. Then-prime minister Jean Chrétien forbade him from accepting the role while he held a Canadian passport.
Sandaluk said that decision — made before his legal woes began in the U.S. — means Black must be treated as any other foreign national when applying to move back to Canada full time. Black can only be considered as a potential citizen after attaining permanent residency status and living in the country for at least a year.
Permanent residency, however, seems unlikely due to Black’s criminal record, Sandaluk said.
[. . .]
Although he will complete his sentence and be released on Friday, Sandaluk said his two convictions make him criminally inadmissible for residency in Canada.
Black’s only recourse, he said, is to apply for a temporary resident permit — a document that essentially stands as permission from the federal minister of citizenship and immigration.
“What (the permits) basically are meant to be is a cure-all for any form of inadmissibility,” Sandaluk said, adding the document would allow Black to come to Canada for anything from an overnight visit to a prolonged stay.
Will the Conservative government, long associated with Black and his late media empire, give him this temporary resident permit? Harper had promised back in the day not to, but that day was the day of his minority government. What might a majority government do? And what sort of reaction would it get if it gave Black this temporary residency? (What reaction would it get if it didn't?)
