A judge has struck out applications from the truck driver who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus accident and was trying to avoid deportation to India.
Jaskirat Singh Sidhu was sentenced to eight years in prison for masterminding the 2018 crash in Saskatchewan that killed 16 people and injured 13 others. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving charges.
The Calgary trucker, a newly married permanent resident, ran over a stop sign at a rural intersection near Tisdale, Sask., and rammed into a bus carrying the junior hockey team players to a playoff game.
Sidhu was granted parole earlier this year, but the Canada Border Services Agency had recommended his deportation.
In September, Sidhu’s lawyer, Michael Greene, argued before Feder that border services officials didn’t consider the previously clean criminal record and remorse of Sidhu.
Greene requested that the agency be ordered to carry out a second review of the case and set aside the decision.
In his decision, Chief Justice Paul Crampton wrote: “The facts underlying Mr Sidhu’s applications to this court were devastating for everyone involved. Many lives were lost, others were torn apart, and many hopes and dreams were shattered.
“Unfortunately, nothing this court decides can change much of those truly tragic consequences.”
Crampton added that border officials were fair in their assessment and addressed both Sidhu’s record and “extraordinary degree of genuine, heart-wrenching remorse.”
“The officer’s decision was appropriately justified, transparent and intelligible.”
Crampton wrote. “It also reflected an internally coherent and rational chain of analysis, and meaningfully engaged with the key issues raised by Mr. Sidhu.”
He said Sidhu now faces deportation to India, after spending years of hard work to establish a life with his wife in Canada.
Crampton added that Sidhu can still request permanent resident status on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
