Canada's Porous, Casual Immigration and Visa System

"It's reliving a nightmare that I went through at that particular time. I was forced to step down from cabinet [as a federal Member of Parliament in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Paul Martin in 2005]."
"I had to clear my name ... It was pretty sad."
Judy Sgro, former Minister of Immigration

"It's about, what, 15 years later and he's here? Wow."
"Somebody must have made a significant representation if in fact Harjit Singh is here."
Joe Volpe, former Liberal cabinet minister assigned to Immigration 

"This would require ministerial intervention to bring him [Singh] back under the circumstances."
"A deportation order, the circumstances of the deportation order; red flags everywhere."
"It would have to be a decision at the highest level."
Richard Boraks, immigration lawyer

Judy Sgro in 2002. Rod McIver/Ottawa Citizen/Postmedia

"Public interest in the integrity of the immigration system clearly favours his [Harjit Singh's] removal at the earliest opportunity", a judge stated once the last of many legal appeals had been exhausted, and in 2005 Canadian border officials ushered Mr. Singh off Canadian soil -- an immigrant with permanent resident status in Canada, but one who had outlasted the patience of authorities through his various commissions of criminal acts -- sending him back to India, via a long plane journey.

He had been a pizza shop owner located in Brampton, Ontario who was found liable for credit card fraud, suspected of people-smuggling and was accused by police of threatening relatives of witnesses in his fraud case. While in prison after he failed to attend a pre-removal hearing, Harjit Singh, then 54, filed an affidavit accusing the Immigration Minister Judy Sgro of reneging on a deal she had agreed upon, to stop his deportation order in exchange for free pizzas from his shop.

He insisted she had exerted improper influence on his removal from Canada, that her verbal agreement to accept his pizza bribe and offer of help in her reelection campaign was reneged upon. The Minister launched a $750,000 libel suit against the man, but withdrew it once he admitted his accusations to be false. And though she had been cleared of wrongdoing she made the decision to step away from her cabinet post. Now she is furious that the man whom she claimed ruined her political career has returned to Canada. And she wants answers.

The current Minister of Immigration in the new Liberal government of Justin Trudeau, Ahmed Hussen has stated through an intermediary in his office that no comment was available, in recognition of privacy rules. That same statement was also issued by spokesmen for Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada, under Minister Hussen. It seems that another Member of Parliament, Liberal Raj Grewal who had left the Liberal caucus in disgrace after admitting to a gambling debt of millions of dollars, had written a "routine" letter in support of Singh's visa request.

Arrived in Canada in 1988 on a visitor visa, Singh overstayed, asking for refugee status for himself, his wife and their three children. He was refused, but the three children were later granted that status, their father ordered deported, then over a decade of legal battles ensued. It came to the attention of Canadian authorities that Harjit Singh had been convicted in India of passport fraud after he had been granted permanent resident status on "humanitarian and compassionate grounds", once again revoked.

Singh along with his children was charged with credit card fraud in Canada, the charges stayed when news reached authorities of death threats issued against relatives of prosecution witnesses living in India. Which didn't stop three Canadian banks from launching a civil lawsuit over the fraud charges where the four family members were found liable; Harjit Singh the "guiding force" behind the scheme where the banks were defrauded of $1 million through credit card "skimming" of magnetic stripes.

While it isn't known whether the current Minister of Immigration was aware of the background to this man's previous residence in Canada, Mr. Volpe, who succeeded Ms. Sgro in the ministerial post stated that at the time he was minister he would have been alert to such a visa application. Mr. Singh's son Parminder Singh is not thrilled that his father is catching attention once again in Canada. "It happened a decade and a half ago. You're trying to revive something", he accused investigative journalists' enquiries.