Humboldt truck driver granted day parole
The Parole Board of Canada has granted the trucker who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash day parole for six months.
Following an emotional, seven-hour hearing at Alberta’s Bowden Institution on Wednesday, the two-member board panel said Jaskirat Singh Sidhu will get full parole after those six months if he follows all conditions, including no contact with the families of the victims.
Sidhu was sentenced to eight years after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving charges for the 2018 crash that killed 16 and injured 13.
Sidhu went through a stop sign at a rural Saskatchewan intersection and drove into the path of the junior hockey team’s bus as it was on its way to a playoff game.
Family members of four of the Humboldt victims addressed the board, asking that they deny parole for Sidhu.
“Where is the faith where we hold people accountable to our laws? I’ve lost all faith in justice in our country to ensure we are safe on the roads,” said Shauna Nordstrom, whose son Logan Hunter died in the crash.
She had little sympathy for Sidhu and his wife, who is also from India.
“This couple wanted to start a life together, but if our rules are broken, there are consequences and your consequence is serving your sentence and then deportation. You really messed up your one chance,” she said.
“My son did not get a chance and we are serving a life sentence.”
The hearing also heard from Andrea Joseph, her husband and daughter, who is getting married on the weekend.
Joseph said she has to relive every moment of the day when Sidhu took the life of her son Jaxon. She said Sidhu’s actions were that of a “very selfish human being.”
“I want you to know I have not stopped crying for my baby boy. I have not stopped whispering good night to my baby boy and hope he will come and visit me in my dreams,” she said, wiping away tears.
“Please do not grant this man day parole. It would crumple my heart, my family’s hearts and Canadians’ hearts who have children and want their children protected.”
Russ Herold, who lost his son Adam, said the thought of Sidhu being released sickens him.
“The thought of Mr. Sidhu out on parole this soon is disappointing and further hurts our healing process. My son had no choice,” he said.
“He was an innocent passenger on a bus, going to his hockey game, minding his own business.”
The panel grilled Sidhu for three hours Wednesday afternoon asking about inconsistencies in some of his initial statements, including telling his boss he was distracted by a flapping tarp and then explaining to RCMP that he had the sun in his eyes.
The panel chair also questioned why Sidhu missed a number of warnings about a stop sign, why he didn’t call 911 or help with the victims after the crash.
“There was ample opportunity for you to respond to do something. Why didn’t you go and help?” she asked.
“I didn’t know what to do when I saw blood, I saw people on the ground. I heard people crying. I just froze,” Sidhu replied.
Sidhu apologized to the families after their victim impact statements.
“I want the parole board to know that what I did was very horrible, destroyed so many families’ lives. I deeply hurt every one of them. I destroyed their dreams, destroyed their future and now I have given them unbearable pain,” Sidhu said.
“I’m sorry for the pain that I have caused. I’m sorry for destroying their lives. I’m sorry for not being careful that day.”
He said he never wanted to hurt anyone or have it happen to anyone.
The Canada Border Services Agency recommended in March that Sidhu be handed over to the Immigration and Refugee Board to decide if he should be deported back to India.
His lawyer is seeking to argue against deportation in Federal Court.
- This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2022.
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This man should not get day parole . He broke the law and ruined may family’s future. I drove truck for 46 years . It is not a joke to be a truck driver. (Not a professional one) I also believe that when his sentence is finished he should be sent back to India as the law states. Lives were lost at the hands of this man if he had used a gun there would he be getting day parole I think not . The parole board should follow the law to its limit keep him in jail and then deport him.
This was a terrible accident but it’s an accident
It was not premeditated it’s an accident terrible
As it was it could happen to any one of us on
Either side of this this man was put in a position
Where he shouldn’t have been as a truck driver
Of more than 35 years when I saw where this
Happened with tree’s east and south east of
The intersection it’s an accident waiting to
Happen not only that there were white crosses
There marking other deaths from an earlier
Accident at that intersection so we know there
Was a problem there already also an accident
Doesn’t happen with just one thing there were
Other things going on there the tarps were giving
Trouble he was inexperienced just to mention a
Few this was an eye opener for the industry to
Put in place stricter criteria for a class A license
Also better training schools it’s still terrible for
The people who lost there lives but good things
Are coming out of this thank you and please
Forgive me if I offended any one who had loved
One’s taken by this terrible horrible accident
-
This was a preventable accident, but it was an accident. It’s not like he approached the intersection and thought that the bus was going to hit his trailer probably killing several people. It was a stupid, preventable accident that never should have happened, but that’s what accidents are. When you look at other penalties for deliberate killings or violent robberies, I think for this man 4 years is enough and no deportation.
When are the law makers in Canada going to step up get a back bone and quit being the soft touches that they are now , Parole and or release is a slap in the face to justice and even more so to the families effected by this tragedy.
why would we give them a pass to stay in Canada when they cannot abide by the laws in this country , this goes for anyone living here there should be no parole especially for incidents that take a life there should be immediate deportation from our country back to where they came from there should be no question or exception to that . other immigrants can abide by the rules and laws governing our country and they flourish but if you can’t then they should be remove immediately after there jail sentence is completed . I suggestion if they want out for parole then they go from jail to the plane do not go anywhere else and be band from entering Canada again.