Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - February 2008
A Polish immigrant, who is also a violent felon, has managed to avoid deportation for 8 years by simply refusing to cooperate.
Jerry Bielecki came to Canada 36 years ago at the age of 15. His first conviction was in 1981 for rape and he has been in jail several times since for other crimes, and is considered a dangerous sex offender. In 2000, he was deemed to be too dangerous to live in Canada and the deportation order was issued.
Bielecki was in jail until 2004 and has since been held at immigration detention. He refuses to sign travel documents that are required for him to return to Poland, saying that he no longer considers Poland his home.
Polish officials do not seem eager to have Bielecki back, as the Canadian Embassy in Warsaw has yet to receive cooperation on their end. Polish law stipulates that he must sign the documents in order to return.
However, Bielecki, despite never officially obtaining his Canadian citizenship, is defiant. He also refused sex offender treatment programs when in jail and is now representing himself at his deportation hearings. At one point, Bielecki promised to cooperate only if the Canadian government guaranteed him a job, an apartment and money upon his return to Poland.
The whole situation, according to Liberal Public Safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh, is exemplary of the problems within the system.
“This is a system that does not function as it should,” Dosanjh said. “This is like someone getting sentenced to 15 years in jail and they refuse to sign the papers so they don’t have to go to jail.”
Source: Vancouver Sun
