In a recent ruling, Ontario Superior Court Justice Antonio Skarica has exposed what we have all been witnessing; how our justice system routinely applies different rules for foreign offenders while law-abiding Canadians pay the price.

In sentencing Nigerian national Boss Omeire to 28 months in prison for extortion and the non-consensual distribution of an intimate image, Justice Skarica declared the system is at a dangerous “inflection point” and must choose whether to protect vulnerable Canadian victims or shield criminals who never should have been here in the first place.

Omeire arrived in Canada as a student in 2014 and had no valid immigration status during his crimes in 2023. He repeatedly breached bail, terrorized a hardworking Canadian woman in the Waterloo area, threatened her, and posted an explicit video of her despite her desperate pleas. The victim now lives in constant fear, her life effectively ruined. Justice Skarica noted Omeire “shouldn’t have been at large on bail in 2023” and “should not have been in this country at all.”

The judge’s most damning critique came in plain language that every Canadian should heed: “Who should get priority? Should it be a foreign-born individual with no current immigration status, who was granted the privilege of attending one of our educational institutions, and used that opportunity to abuse a law-abiding, honest, hardworking but vulnerable Canadian citizen? Asking that question provides the obvious answer.”

For too long, Canadian courts have treated deportation risk as a get-out-of-jail-free card. Defence lawyers routinely argue that a lighter sentence is needed to spare foreign criminals from removal, effectively turning immigration consequences into a sentencing discount. The result? Repeat offenders and non-citizens remain free to prey on Canadians while victims are told to accept diminutive sentences that fail to deliver real justice.

Justice Skarica’s ruling is a long-overdue wake-up call. Fair and equal treatment under the law must mean exactly that: sentences that fit the crime, not the offender’s passport. Canadians deserve harsher, no-nonsense punishments for non-citizens who abuse our hospitality and for repeat offenders who treat bail like a revolving door. Prioritizing deportation status over public safety has only guaranteed one thing; more criminals staying right here, free to reoffend.

It is time to end the two-tier system. Canadian victims first, foreign criminals and recidivists last. Justice Skarica has drawn the line, it’s time for our courts to enforce it.

To read the Ontario Superior Court case, click here