Actions and Choices Have Consequences

"To accede to Mr. Bajwa's request for a [conditional sentence] or a reduction of the jail time on either count for the impact of the collateral immigration consequences to Mr. Bajwa and as a remedy [for breaching his Charter right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure] would bring the administration of justice into disrepute and result in an inappropriate and artificial sentence; in other words, an unfit sentence."

"He received his first British Columbia driving prohibition on March 19 1993. He has also accumulated a substantial number of additional Criminal Code convictions and Motor Vehicle Act infractions."

"I am flabbergasted that Crown counsel has only sought a four-month consecutive jail sentence [for driving while prohibited]."

"Given the circumstances of the offence, it is hard to imagine a more suitable case for the two-year-less-a-day maximum sentence allowed." 

Judge David Patterson, British Columbia Provincial Court 

The provincial courthouse in Vernon, B.C.

 

Judge Patterson sentenced Vernon, B.C. resident Gurinder Pal Singh Bajwa, a permanent resident of Canada, to 198 days in prison (just over six months) for impaired driving, gave him a fine of $2,000 and banned the man from driving for a three-year-period. In addition, Bajwa was handed another 120 days (about four months) by Judge Patterson for driving while prohibited; the additional time to be served consecutively, for a total of some ten months in jail. 

 

This was no ordinary, run-of-the-mill impaired driving (driving under the influence) event. This resident of Canada racked up a total of 32 driving prohibitions or suspensions, along with 16 twenty-four-hour driving bans. That record weighed the scale against the B.C. judge filing to be convinced of the plaintiff's argument that he should have a lighter sentence than what would be normal disciplinary action reflecting drunk driving, based on the fact that a sentence of over six months in jail could see him being deported to India.

 

Mr. Bajwa escaped deportation in 2019 on a similar impaired driving conviction when he was granted a sentence of five months and 29 days, a reduced sentence on humanitarian grounds. He was arrested for impaired driving again on May 22, 2022 when he rear-ended another vehicle with his Mercedes SUV, in the parking lot of a Wholesale Club. On that occasion his blood alcohol level was over twice the legal limit. 

 

Originally from India's Punjab region, the now-57-year-old man immigrated to Canada over 34 years ago. Had he, during that lengthy period, sought Canadian citizenship to formalize his status in Canada as a citizen, the specter of deportation would never be haunting him. As it is, his less formal status as a permanent resident makes him vulnerable to being returned to the country he left. His personal circumstances should have no bearing on his removal to his place of origin; that he no longer has family or friends there, and the decades that have passed have rendered the India he knew totally different from from the India of today.

 

Noting that a more forgiving sentence would enable his client to remain in Canada, Mr. Bajwa's lawyer argued for a conditional sentence or no greater period of incarceration than what he received in 2019 -- five months and 29 days behind bars. It takes no effort to produce sympathy for Mr. Bajwa's plight; the court heard that the man "has no one in India", and he is in the process of divorcing "as  his alcohol usage ruined his relationship with his estranged wife and his children", who live in Canada.

 

It seems unfortunate, but eight days following a drunk driving conviction in May of 2022, Mr. Bajwa "was very intoxicated at his daughter's wedding and smacked a plate of food out of her hand. He was subsequently convicted of assault ... and handed a 60-day jail sentence followed by an 28-month probation order , which included having no contact with his estranged wife or children." And that was "the last straw for the family, essentially".

 

In February of 2024 Mr. Bajwa received a letter from the Canada Border Services Agency "alleging he may be inadmissible to Canada" for serious criminality. "Removal from Canada would lead to dire consequences for Mr. Bajwa. He would be forced to leave the country he has called home for more than 34 years. He would face the prospect of returning to India, which has changed since he last resided there. A country that now may be as foreign to him as Canada was when Mr. Bajwa immigrated to Canada." Yet, on the other hand, Mr. Bajwa’s “moral blameworthiness is at the highest end of the spectrum”, pointed out Judge Patterson, as he delivered his judgement.

Image Credit: TWITTER / Canada Border Services Agency