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U.S. teacher exiled to Canada after sexual abuse conviction

Last Updated: Monday, October 23, 2006 | 7:42 PM ET
CBC News
An American teacher convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old student has
been exiled to Canada as punishment in an unusual case that has immigration
experts divided over its legality.

A U.S. judge gave Malcolm Watson a choice between serving as much as a year
behind bars or agreeing to a three-year exile at his home in Canada. Watson,
a 35-year-old former teacher at Buffalo Seminary in New York state, chose
Canada.

Under the sentence for sexual abuse imposed by Cheektowaga town court,
Watson can enter the United States only to report to his probation officer.
Watson lives across the border in Fort Erie, Ont., with his Canadian wife
and three children. His sentence stated Monday.

Robert Kolken, a Buffalo immigration lawyer, told the Toronto Star that
exiling a citizen is unheard of.

"I don't see how a judge sitting in a criminal court in the U.S. can
lawfully banish a citizen as a condition of sentencing," he said.

"The real issue is whether it's legal or not," he told the paper, adding
that he wonders whether the sentence can even be enforced.

No assurances given

Erie Country District Attorney Frank Clark told CBC News the agreement was
amenable to the state, but that no assurances were made to Watson.

"He asked us and the court for permission to serve his sentence while living
with his family in Canada," Clark said.

"Our response was, 'We don't really care if you want to live in Canada. It's
alright with with us, we don't know if it's alright with the Canadian
authorities. You'll have to take your chances with them."

Watson's lawyer, Oscar Smuckler, told the Buffalo News he looked into the
implications of the sentence and thought it "unlikely that Canada will do
anything" to upset the arrangement.

Immigration lawyer Marshall Drukarsh agreed with Smuckler's assessment.

"If an individual is a permanent resident of Canada and he has been found
guilty in the United States of a crime and the equivalent crime in Canada is
punishable by a term of imprisonment at most of, say, five years, then his
permanent resident status in Canada is not in jeopardy," Drukarsh said.

Still, it remains to be seen how Canadian authorities will react.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Monte Solberg said that while he could
not comment on the case because of privacy concerns, he could comment in
general terms about how federal officials would deal with non-Canadians
convicted of crimes elsewhere.

"If non-citizens pose a threat to Canada, we will do everything in our power
to have that person removed as quickly as possible," he said in an interview
with the Globe and Mail.

Citizen and Immigration spokesman Edison Stewart told the Star the Canadian
Border Services Agency studies such situations on a case-by-case basis.

"Someone convicted of a serious offence would normally be barred from
Canada. But every case must be examined as to the exact nature of the
foreign conviction and its equivalency in Canadian law before a final
determination is made by CBSA," Stewart said.

A CBSA spokeswoman told the newspaper she was not aware of Canadian
pre-approval of the deal.

Different consent laws

Canada and the U.S. have different laws regarding sex with a minor, and
Canadian approval for the deal may depend on whether Watson would have been
charged with such an offence in this country.

In Canada, the age of consent is 14 years unless sex occurs during a
relationship of trust or dependency - such as in a teacher-student
relationship - in which case the age of consent rises to 18.

In June, the federal Conservatives moved to raise the sexual age of consent
to 16 years from 14.

In New York state, the age of consent for male-female sex is 17.

Watson, described in media reports as a popular English teacher, pleaded
guilty to having sex with a 15-year-old female student in a parked car in
April.

According to the Buffalo News, the school fired Watson in April, after he
had been suspended a month earlier for ignoring a previous warning to stay
away from the student.

The girl's parents are reported to approve of the sentence because it means
their daughter won't have to testify in public.