A federal deportation appeal on Monday that will decide whether an alleged Mafia boss must return to his native Italy is raising questions about foreign interference and constitutional rights in Canada.
At stake is the question of whether a foreign government should be able to arrange warrantless surveillance of a person on Canadian soil, and then use evidence obtained in a Canadian legal proceeding.
Vincenzo (Jimmy) DeMaria was born in Siderno, Italy, but has resided in Canada for most of his life.
Siderno is in the poor, southern region of Calabria — the toe on the boot of the Italian peninsula. The seaside town was home to a group of family clans of the Calabrian Mafia known as 'Ndrangheta that began to migrate to the Toronto area in the 1950s.
The DeMaria family arrived in Canada i