Convicted already for criminal negligence causing death after street racing down Marine Drive, Bahadur Singh Bhalru doesn't believe it's fair he should be punished again for the same crime by being deported to India.
Mr. Bhalru, 26, is set for removal to India on Sept. 14, and appealed yesterday to Immigration Minister Joe Volpe to allow him to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Since coming to Canada as a 16-year-old with his parents and sister in 1997, Mr. Bhalru has become a permanent resident, but is not a Canadian citizen. He was eligible to become a citizen in February of 2000, but did not apply. He now says he wishes he had.
"If I had, I would not be here today pleading to the minister to stop my deportation," Mr. Bhalru said in a news conference yesterday. "There are Canadian citizens who have killed people with their cars, but they are not being punished twice and being deported. They are able to serve their time, pay their debt to Canadian society, and rehabilitate. I am not being given that same chance."
On Nov. 13, 2000, Mr. Bhalru and another man, Sukvir Singh Khosa, were street racing on Marine Drive when Mr. Khosa's car went out of control and struck 51-year-old Irene Thorpe, a pedestrian out for a night-time stroll.
In April of 2003, an Immigration and Refugee Board tribunal ordered Mr. Bhalru and Mr. Khosa deported. Mr. Bhalru applied for a judicial review of his deportation order three months ago to the Federal Court of Canada. His application was dismissed and a removal order was issued for him to leave by Sept. 14.
Mr. Khosa also applied for a judicial review. His lawyer, Daniel Geller, said yesterday that a decision in his case has not been made.
Mr. Bhalru, who appeared at a news conference with his mother Ravinder Kaur Bhalru, said his family has suffered since he was charged with criminal negligence.
He is not alleging his deportation back to India would result in physical harm to himself, but did say he has no chance of leading a normal life in the small northern town he would have to go to if returned.
Mr. Bhalru's conviction in 2002 set off a wave of public outrage after he received a conditional sentence of two years less a day and three years of probation.
Conservative MP Randy White, long a critic of what he believes is a too-lenient immigration and justice system, said he has no sympathy for Mr. Bhalru.
"There are too many second chances given. What you have to look at is how the victims feel," Mr. White said yesterday. "This country has got to develop some standards and our standard at the moment isn't a standard at all."
At Mr. Bhalru's news conference were about two dozen members of Sikh temples throughout the Lower Mainland.
"The community is behind this boy," said Sohan Singh Deo of the Khalsa Diwan Society. "Mrs. Thorpe, she is gone from this world. It's really bad and the community feels bad about it. This young man feels bad. That should be enough."
Mr. Bhalru's lawyer, Zool Suleman, said that with the Sept. 14 removal date fast approaching, a public plea was needed to get the Immigration minister's attention.
Mr. Suleman said his client has applied to remain in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds but that application has not yet been decided.
Mr. Bhalru, who did not take questions and left with his mother after making his statement, has been traumatized by the events and wants the opportunity to express his remorse to Ms. Thorpe's family, Mr. Suleman said.
"Will the family only feel healed if he's deported?" he asked. "If he's deported, what kind of healing is that?"
Ms. Thorpe's sister, Nina Rivet, demanded that the men responsible for her sibling's death be given tougher sentences. "In the beginning, had he stepped up to the plate and admitted what he had done and that he was sorry, I wouldn't be so adamant about seeing the system prevail," she said.
Since Ms. Thorpe's death, Ms. Rivet said, she believes she has a duty to fight for a justice system that takes into account how victims should be treated. She is running as an Independent in Surrey North, the riding held until recently by the late Chuck Cadman, in the next federal election.
The minister of Immigration must not cave to Mr. Bhalru's request for leniency, Ms. Rivet said.