MARTIN: Compassion needed as Humboldt Broncos legal saga unfolds

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The horrific bus crash which saw 16 members of the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team die and 13 others badly injured will probably remain etched on the consciences of most Canadians for the rest of their lives.

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The images of the crash scene painted how horrific it must have been for those young men, mere boys actually, and team staff when a transport truck ran a stop sign on a rural Saskatchewan highway six years ago.

Hockey is a way of life in Canada and nothing epitomizes it more than busloads of starry-eyed teenagers crisscrossing the country hoping their dream to someday make a living playing a game they love so much will be realized.

The deadly collision struck at the very heart of the fabric of this nation.

So it is not surprising there is very little sympathy for the driver of the transport truck, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, among residents of our great nation.

As reported by the Canadian Press, Sidhu was ordered deported to his native India last week at an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing when an adjudicator found the federal government had established he was inadmissible in Canada for serious criminality.

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His lawyer, Michael Greene, told the wire service he will file an application asking the government to return Sidhu’s permanent resident status on humanitarian grounds so he can remain in Canada with his wife and their Canadian-born child.

Not surprisingly, many family members of Sidhu’s victims can’t wait to see the tail end of him board a flight back to his homeland.

One, Shauna Nordstrom, whose 18-year-old son was killed, told the Canadian Press Sidhu’s deportation meant justice would be served.

“Logan was never given a chance, let alone a second chance,” she said in a prepared statement.

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“If Sidhu wanted to be truly remorseful and do the right, honourable thing, he would have left Canada years ago.”

With the greatest respect to the still-grieving mother, who obviously has good reason to have no sympathy for the convicted killer, Sidhu could not have done that.

That was because he’s been serving an eight-year prison term after pleading guilty to 29 charges, 16 of dangerous driving causing death and 13 of dangerous driving causing bodily harm just nine months after his horrific crimes.

He was released on parole last year and continues to be under state authority.

Sidhu never attempted to fight his charges. He never had his lawyers stand up in court and argue that no matter how horrific the result was their client’s conduct on that day didn’t amount to criminal conduct. They could have suggested, perhaps compellingly, that Sidhu’s running of that stop sign on a desolate prairie highway in the middle of a wintry day amounted to nothing more than a momentary lapse.

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He would not have been the first driver to escape criminal liability for failing to come to a stop, despite the deadly consequences, nor would he have been the last.

But in a show of obvious remorse, Sidhu chose to plead guilty to all the charges he faced knowing it would mean time in a federal prison and likely deportation from the country he had come to call home.

He didn’t force the prosecution to prove its case, as was his right. He didn’t force a parade of survivors to take the witness stand and relive the tragic event.

Perhaps he was motivated in part by the reduction in sentence his guilty pleas would garner. But the pleas would not prevent his deportation and he would have been told that.

One of the guiding principles in Canadian law is the concept of rehabilitation over retribution.

Canadians are known for many things and the game of hockey is at the top of that list. But so is compassion.

Perhaps it’s time for the latter.

KMartin@postmedia.com

X: @KMartinCourts

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