Close X
Friday, November 22, 2024
ADVT 
National

Deportation hearing set for truck driver in deadly Saskatchewan hockey team bus crash

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 08 Apr, 2024 12:13 PM
  • Deportation hearing set for truck driver in deadly Saskatchewan hockey team bus crash

A deportation hearing for the truck driver who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash six years ago has been scheduled for next month. 

Lawyer Michael Greene said Monday the hearing for his client Jaskirat Singh Sidhu is to be held May 24.

"It was an inevitability. I mean, the (immigration) minister could always decide not to go ahead with it, but it doesn't seem to be happening at this point anyway," Greene said in an interview.

"There's nothing to contest. You're convicted or you're not. All they have to establish is he's not a citizen and that he was convicted."

Sidhu was sentenced to eight years in prison for causing the 2018 crash in Saskatchewan that killed 16 people and injured 13 others. He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving charges.

The rookie Calgary trucker, a newly married permanent resident from India, barrelled through a stop sign at a rural intersection near Tisdale, Sask., and drove into the path of the bus carrying the junior hockey team to a playoff game. 

Sidhu was granted full parole last year.

In December, the Federal Court dismissed applications from Sidhu's lawyer, who argued Canada Border Services officials didn’t consider Sidhu’s previously clean criminal record and remorse. He had asked for the agency to be ordered to conduct a second review.

Greene said the deportation hearings usually only take a few minutes. After that happens, he said the real work begins.

"Once he ceases to be a permanent resident then he can file an application on humanitarian grounds. Our goal is to do that fairly quickly," Greene said.

"How long it takes after that is the great unknown. It could be months. It could be years."

Greene said once a person is ordered deported, there is then a pre-removal risk assessment conducted and that usually takes a few months. He said Sidhu can also ask for a deferral while his request for permanent resident status is considered.

"The wheels of justice move slowly at times. It's been playing out over six years now," Greene said.

"We're cautiously optimistic. You can't erase the fact of the conviction and damage done.

"But everything else about him is positive and there's a lot of community support, although there are some people who can't and will never forgive."

MORE National ARTICLES

ICBC tells drivers to exercise caution this Easter long weekend

ICBC tells drivers to exercise caution this Easter long weekend
ICBC says drivers should use extra caution on the roads this upcoming long weekend. The insurance corporation says weather can be unpredictable around Easter, and overlap with the holiday weekend and spring break means roads will be likely packed with road trippers and families on vacation.  

ICBC tells drivers to exercise caution this Easter long weekend

Crypto scams rampant in BC

Crypto scams rampant in BC
The B-C Securities Commission says it's teaming up with the R-C-M-P, Vancouver police, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and the U-S Secret Service to sound the alarm about escalating scams targeting unsuspecting people and their money. 

Crypto scams rampant in BC

Canada Post releases new stamp celebrating Muslim festival

Canada Post releases new stamp celebrating Muslim festival
The Crown corporation says Canadians can use the stamps to send greetings ahead of Eid al-Fitr, a four-day Islamic festival in April that follows Ramadan, a holy month many Muslims spend fasting from sunrise to sunset and volunteering for charities.

Canada Post releases new stamp celebrating Muslim festival

Lookout for feral rabbits: VPB

Lookout for feral rabbits: VPB
The Vancouver Parks Board says people visiting Jericho Beach as Easter approaches should avoid touching feral rabbits that populate the beach's grassy areas. The board says the Jericho bunnies might be enticing with their fluffy tails, but handling and feeding them is not a good idea. 

Lookout for feral rabbits: VPB

Marine LNG jetty project in Delta, B.C., gets environmental assessment certificate

Marine LNG jetty project in Delta, B.C., gets environmental assessment certificate
British Columbia's Environment Ministry says a marine jetty project in the city of Delta to facilitate liquefied natural gas exports has been issued an environmental assessment certificate. Environment Minister George Heyman and Transportation Minister Rob Fleming say they issued the approval after "carefully considering" the assessment of the project. 

Marine LNG jetty project in Delta, B.C., gets environmental assessment certificate

Arson in North Vancouver

Arson in North Vancouver
Police in North Vancouver say there were a pair of suspicious fires yesterday afternoon in the district's Norgate area.  North Vancouver Mounties say both fires happened in the 13-hundred-block of Sowden Street before 3 p-m, where fire crews found hedges on fire in front of two homes on the block. 

Arson in North Vancouver