UN: Canada guilty of "cruel and inhumane treatment" in 2011 deportation of Jamaican

A UN Committee has found that Canada's deportation of  a Jamaican man with a mental disability amounted to cruel and inhuman treatment, effectively leaving him without medical and family support.

 

The 52 year old man immigrated to Canada when he was 18 years old and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1993. The Jamaican, who was identified by his initials A.H.G, was deported to Jamaica on August 29, 2011, after Canadian authorities ruled that he was not eligible to be in the country on the grounds of  serious criminality, as a result of  his conviction in 2005 of  assault with a weapon. 

 

In a statement yesterday, the Geneva-based Human Rights Committee said Canada should allow the Jamaican to return to the country if  he wished, and give him adequate compensation. In its findings, the 18-member Committee recognised Canada's legitimate interest in protecting the public but highlighted that the man's criminal offences were recognised to be related to his mental illness.

                                                      

The Committee experts noted that in 2005, after the Jamaican was evicted from his home and started living in shelters, he had difficulty taking his medication and experienced psychotic relapses.