A Jamaican woman ordered deported from Canada more than five years ago after she was convicted of killing her stepson has won a reprieve.
Nichelle Nikiss Rowe, who was stripped of the permanent residence status she obtained here in 2005 due to her second-degree murder conviction, applied to Federal Court for a stay of removal from Canada, which was scheduled for March 27.
Rowe argued successfully that the immigration officer who refused to stay her removal last November didn’t properly consider an expert report on how deportees are treated in Jamaica when he turned down her pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) — Rowe’s last-ditch bid to stay in Canada — and her separate bid to regain her Canadian permanent resident status, based on humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) grounds.
Rowe “asserts that the officer failed to engage with a July 2021 expert report she had submitted in support of her applications concerning the treatment of deportees in Jamaica. This report, authored by Luke de Noronha, provides an analysis of various issues affecting deportees in Jamaica, including access to health care, housing, employment, vulnerability to violence, stigma, and the lack of resources, social assistance or programs,” according to the March 25 decision out of Toronto.
Justice Anne Turley sided with Rowe.
“As the Supreme Court has made clear, decision-makers must meaningfully engage with the key evidence and arguments of the parties,” the judge said.
“Here, however, the immigration officer fails to even mention the de Noronha Report which (Rowe) relied upon in support of her H&C and PRRA applications.”
In the decision on the latter, the immigration officer states Rowe “specified a risk as a deportee with no support network,” and lists the evidence she submitted “but there is no mention of the de Noronha Report,” said the judge.
On top of that, Turley found that Rowe “has also raised two other serious issues on the underlying H&C application. First, the immigration officer failed to address the alleged hardship (she) would face based on her medical conditions. In that regard, she submitted medical evidence from her primary care physician detailing the various medical conditions she suffers, including endometriosis, depression and anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The (October 2024) letter further explains the numerous medications she takes to manage her medical conditions.”
Rowe’s “community mental health care worker also provided a letter addressing the mental health counselling and case management supports she has been receiving since June 2024. As a victim of intimate partner violence, the letter states that with this counselling, (Rowe) has made great strides and the loss of these services ‘would have a profound negative impact’ on her mental and physical health.”
