Calgary Liberal MP wants to stop Humboldt Broncos crash driver deportation

George Chahal says he plans on touring the country to drum up support for efforts to stop the deportation of the truck driver responsible for the Humboldt Broncos bus crash.

Calgary Liberal MP George Chahal is trying to rally support among his colleagues to block the deportation of Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, the truck driver responsible for the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, which killed 16 people and left 13 injured.

As first reported by The Hill Times, Chahal emailed his Liberal caucus colleagues last week saying he would be publicly advocating for Sidhu to stay in Canada.

“It was a tragic accident that he was involved in, pleaded guilty and served his time,” Chahal said. “Mr. Sidhu is my constituent and I’ve had the opportunity over the past several days to meet with him, his wife and his child and he has asked for forgiveness.”

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Marc Miller’s office tells Global News they do not comment on specific cases due to privacy legislation. Chahal says he has not spoken to Miller about this, outside the email he sent to the Liberal caucus.

Sidhu received his deportation order on May 24 during an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing in Calgary.

Despite arguments from his lawyer that based on compassionate and humanitarian factors Sidhu should not be deported, the board said it could not consider those factors and had to rule based on “whether the minister has established the facts that support their allegation that you’re inadmissible for serious criminality.”

This is because despite Sidhu taking full responsibility for his actions, the law states that he is inadmissible to Canada due to the fact he is not a Canadian citizen and committed a serious crime.

At the time, Sidhu’s lawyer Michael Greene said he was not surprised by the board’s decision due to how the law is written, calling it a “forgone conclusion.”