Dany Villanueva, whose arrest by Montreal police led to the shooting death of his younger brother Fredy as well as a riot in Montreal North, faces deportation to his native Honduras.
The elder Villanueva appeared briefly before an Immigration Refugee Board commissioner in Montreal with his lawyer Wednesday to have a date set for a full hearing.
Robert Gervais, a spokesman for the IRB, said the full hearing will be held on March 11 when all documents will be made public.
Canada Border Services says that Villanueva’s criminal record makes him inadmissible to Canada. He is a permanent resident and does not have Canadian citizenship.
Villanueva’s family arrived in Canada as a political refugee claimants in 1998 when he was 12-years-old.
In 2006, in the first of several run-ins with the law, he spent 11 months in jail for armed robbery.
His lawyer, Stephane Handfield, questions why Villanueva is being forced out, four years after his single conviction on record.
“It’s an old conviction, dating back to April 2006,” Handfield said.
But Villanueva was arrested again in 2008 on weapons and robbery charges, and is due back in court in the spring crime.
He did not respect bail conditions, and was not allowed to be in Montreal North the night his brother was fatally shot.
The IRB said it had opened a deportation file for Villanueva a full month before the tragedy.
The deportation process applies to serious crimes, when the accused has spent at least six months in jail.
Villanueva could go through an appeal process, which would be lengthy, his lawyer said.
He remains free on bail, and is expected to testify when the coroner's inquest into his brother's death resumes next week.
