Court application denied for truck driver who caused Humboldt Broncos bus crash

globalnews.ca:

A federal judge has dismissed applications from the truck driver who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Saskatchewan and was fighting deportation back to India.

Jaskirat Singh Sidhu was sentenced to eight years for causing a crash that killed 16 people and injured 13 others.

The rookie Calgary trucker, a newly married permanent resident, went through a stop sign at a rural intersection and drove into the path of the bus carrying Broncos players and staff in 2018.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has recommended Sidhu be handed over to the Immigration and Refugee Board to decide whether he should be deported to India.

Sidhu and his legal team claimed that the CBSA officer on the case unfairly used letters from the public as a determining factor in his recommendation for an inadmissibility hearing.

They argued the agency’s decision was unreasonable and applied to have the case reconsidered.

His application was denied on Thursday by Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton in Ottawa.

During a court hearing, the CBSA said it was in possession of letters from individuals concerned with the example that not removing Sidhu, who caused an extreme level of devastation, would set for society.

Crampton said in his decision that the CBSA officer didn’t consider public opinion when making his decision.

According to Crampton’s ruling, the letters were not included in a document of factors the officer was using to reach his decision, nor were the letters included in an email from the officer that listed the third-party documents that would be used during court deliberations.

“It is readily apparent from the Officer’s Decision that he did not consider public opinion in making that recommendation,” Crampton ruled.