TORONTO - A Toronto woman deported to Chile over gang links she claims consist of merely baking cupcakes and giving a baby a teddy bear says she should be allowed to return to Canada.
Speaking from Chile, Carla Campana tells The Canadian Press her deportation was unfair and she should be allowed to come home.
Campana, 24, came to Canada as a baby but was put on a plane to Santiago last month after being incarcerated for a year.
The landed immigrant was accused of being part of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation gang that her brother was a member of, but she was never charged with a crime.
She says she thought it was an organization to help Latino people grow stronger, and not a gang.
Campana says she can't find work in Chile because she doesn't speak Spanish fluently.
She lives off money her parents send from Canada and what little money her brother -- who was deported to Chile earlier this year -- is making in his new job.
The siblings live in Vina Del Mar, about 140 kilometres northwest of Santiago.
In July, an adjudicator at the Immigration and Refugee Board found Campana to be a member of a criminal organization. A deportation order was subsequently issued.
Section 37 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act states a permanent resident is inadmissible to Canada if they belong to a group that engages in organized criminal activity, such as gangs.
Last month a judge ruled that Campana would not suffer any irreparable harm if she was deported, but left the door open for her to return to Canada upon judicial review.
Campana's lawyer has said the case is ongoing in Federal Court and he hopes to take it to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.
