An Indian-origin truck driver who caused a horrific accident in 2018 that killed 16 members of a junior hockey team in Canada will be deported to India.
Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, who arrived in Canada from India in 2014, lived in Calgary city in the province of Alberta.
Sidhu barrelled through a stop sign and into the path of the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team’s bus at a rural intersection near Tisdale in Saskatchewan Province. Sixteen people on the bus were killed and 13 were injured in the accident on April 6, 2018.
The decision to deport Sidhu came on Friday at an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing in Calgary, CBS News reported.
In 2019, he pleaded guilty to 16 counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing 16 deaths and injuring 13 others. He was granted full parole last year.
Trent Cook from the immigration division of the board, who oversaw the 15-minute hearing, told Sidhu that he could not consider humanitarian and compassionate factors.
“My sole role today is to make a finding on whether the minister has established the facts that support their allegation that you’re inadmissible for serious criminality. I am satisfied that the minister’s report is well-founded. I am required by law to issue you with a deportation order,” Cook is quoted as saying.
Sidhu’s lawyer Michael Greene had said the decision was a foregone conclusion. Greene said all that was required to deport Sidhu was proof that he was not a Canadian citizen and he had committed a serious crime.
The lawyer said there are more legal and procedural steps to follow and Sidhu may not be deported for months or even years.
Greene said he plans to file an application soon asking the government to return Sidhu’s permanent resident status on humanitarian grounds, CBC News reported.
He said immigration officials would look at Sidhu’s offence, his remorse and whether he is a security risk or a danger to the public.
Greene said they also look at other factors including the person’s establishment in Canada, or family ties, and “the best interests of any child involved, and any hardship that would occur were he to be removed”.
The lawyer said Sidhu and his wife now have a child who was born in Canada and the child has severe heart and lung complications.
“It’s been a rough ride for them and that child requires a lot of medical attention,” Greene said.
Several family members of those killed in the crash have said they want Sidhu deported, the report said.
However, Scott Thomas, who lost his 18-year-old son Evan in the accident, has said he has forgiven Sidhu and even advocated for him to stay in Canada, CBC News said.
