'Not getting on a plane any time soon': Deportation decision delayed in Humboldt Broncos case
A decision on whether a former truck driver who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash should be deported to India likely won't be coming until the new year.
A lawyer for Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, 33, had sent a voluminous amount of paperwork to the Canada Border Services Agency earlier this year arguing why he should be allowed to stay in Canada once his sentence has been served.
Sidhu was sentenced to eight years after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm in the April 2018 collision that killed 16 people and injured 13.
Court was told Sidhu, a newly married permanent resident, had missed a stop sign at a rural Saskatchewan intersection and drove into the path of the Broncos bus carrying players and staff to a junior hockey league playoff game.
The Canada Border Services Agency is to write a report recommending whether he be allowed to stay in his adopted country or be deported. The deadline for the paperwork to be submitted was Nov. 28, but that has been delayed one month.
“Since it's been so long since we made our original submissions, they wanted to give us an opportunity to update our information with anything new before they made a decision,” Calgary immigration lawyer Michael Greene said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Greene said there's not a lot of new information to submit, but he wants to be thorough and has asked for some updated correctional reports.
“The psychologist is going to pay (Sidhu) another visit just to see if there's been any changes in his mental health that could affect his report,” he said.
“We're confident we submitted a very strong package in the first place but, on the other hand, it's a difficult decision and we don't want to go back and say, 'Oh, we missed something that we should have had in there.”'
The 415 pages sent to the federal agency include letters from Sidhu's family, the public and three Broncos families, including Scott Thomas whose 18-year-old son, Evan, died in the crash.
“I know for a fact that (Sidhu) will never drive a semi again. I know for a fact that if he could take back what happened that day he would in a heartbeat. He would trade places with any one of those boys,” Thomas said earlier this year.
Greene said he's surprised by the positive feedback in the case, especially after his client spoke to a few media outlets to tell his story.
“It's tough because I think most Canadians felt genuine pain and anguish for the victims and I expected that would result in a lot of anger, and it's surprisingly not been the case,” Greene said.
“This never leaves (Sidhu) so he's battling his own post-traumatic stress as are so many people who've been touched by this. He's ... really committed to making something positive out of a terrible situation.”
Chris Joseph, whose son Jaxon also died in the crash, is one of several Broncos families who have written letters asking for Sidhu to be deported. He said it's the law and laws are there for a reason.
“I can appreciate how 29 families can feel different ways about him but, in my view, the matter of deportation is not about forgiveness. It's not about how you feel about a person. It's not about whether you think he made a single mistake,” Joseph said.
“If he's deported, I could maybe even toy with the idea of considering forgiveness. But if he's not deported, then we're going to be even more hurt and I don't think I'll ever get to that place.”
Greene said his client has not sought parole and was only moved from medium security to minimum security at the end of August.
Either way, the lawyer said, Sidhu wouldn't be leaving the country immediately.
“There are other processes and he's not getting on a plane any time soon, even if they decide that's what they want to do.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2021
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'