Board orders deportation for trucker in horrific Humboldt Broncos crash
The truck driver who caused the horrific bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team has been ordered to be deported.
The decision came this morning at an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing in Calgary for Jaskirat Singh Sidhu.
Sidhu's lawyer Michael Greene has said the decision was a foregone conclusion, as all that's required to deport Sidhu is proof that he's not a Canadian citizen and he committed a serious crime.
Sidhu is from India and has permanent resident status in Canada.
He was granted parole after being sentenced to eight years for dangerous driving in the 2018 bus crash in Saskatchewan that killed 16 people and injured 13 others.
Sidhu's lawyer has said there are still numerous other legal procedures to come, and the deportation process could take months or years.
In December, the Federal Court dismissed applications from Sidhu's lawyer, who had argued border officials didn't consider Sidhu's previously clean criminal record and remorse. He wanted the court to order the border agency to conduct a second review.
"This is part of the sadness of the whole process. We're left with a situation where permanent residents have no rights whatsoever to have their personal circumstances considered," Greene said, prior to Friday's hearing. "Our only mechanism is [that] after he's ordered deported, we're going to ask them to give back his [permanent resident] status [based] on humanitarian grounds.
"But in the meantime, he has no status."
Greene said Sidhu won't immediately be taken into custody after the hearing is over.
He said a pre-removal risk assessment has to be conducted and Sidhu can also ask for a deferral while his request for permanent resident status is considered.
The process, Greene said, could take months or years.
Several family members of those killed in the crash have said they want Sidhu deported.
