An Indian-origin rookie truck driver, who caused a deadly crash which killed 16 people in Canada’s Saskatchewan province in 2018, has lost his bid to stay in the country, according to media reports.
The driver, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, was sentenced to eight years in prison after his semi-trailer truck failed to stop at a highway intersection on April 6, 2018, killing 16 people and injuring 13 on the bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos hockey team and others en route to a playoff game.
He was granted parole earlier this year, and the Canada Border Services Agency had recommended he be deported to India, the CBC reported on Thursday.
On Thursday, a judge dismissed Sidhu’s applications for the agency to be ordered to conduct a second review of the case and set aside its earlier decision, according to the report.
Sidhu was new to truck driving and had been on the job less than a month before the tragedy in 2018, CTV News reported.
His lawyer, Michael Greene, argued before the Federal Court in September that border services officials did not consider Sidhu’s previously clean criminal record and remorse.
Chief Justice Paul Crampton wrote in his decision 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,” the report cited Crampton’s decision.
The judge said Sidhu now faces removal to India after spending years of hard work, establishing a life with his wife in Canada.
He added that Sidhu can still ask to be allowed to stay on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, according to the report.
Toby Boulet, whose 21-year-old son, Logan, was killed in the crash, said that he doesn’t want Sidhu in Canada.
“We have no ill feelings toward the man — we just don’t want to see him ever again,” Boulet was quoted as saying in the report.
“We don’t want to run into him. We don’t want to have an actual incidental passing with the gentleman. We want him gone — and gone means, in this case, deported,” he said.
Chris Joseph, whose 20-year-old son, Jaxon, was also killed in the crash, had been calling for Sidhu’s deportation.
“It’s the right decision and sends the right message,” Joseph was quoted as saying in the report.
“It’s been five years of pain for our family and many other families.âæ For all of us, it’s been ongoing pain that’s never left,” he said.