#1. INDERJIT SINGH REYAT DENIED BAIL, PERJURY TRIAL NEXT YEAR
As had been expected, convicted Air India bomber Inderjit Singh Reyat was denied bail by B.C. Supreme Court, Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm.
The RCMP have been pressuring Reyat to reveal the identity of the mysterious Third Man who accompanied prime Air India bombing suspect Talwinder Singh Parmar to his home in Duncan on the Island and who stayed behind after Parmar departed. The Third Man apparently carried the bombs made by the two back to Vancouver. Identifying the Third Man is the key to solving the Air India bombing mystery.
Earlier this week, after all that on-again-off-again drama about Reyat allegedly reaching some deal in the perjury case against him, it was finally announced that Reyat will go on trial on January 19.
Reyat's lawyer Ian Donaldson had argued that in the meantime Reyat should be released on bail, but Dohm on Friday turned down his application.
Reyat, 55, completed his five-year sentence for manslaughter in the 1985 Air India bombing a month ago. He pleaded guilty in 2003 to supplying materials for the bomb. He had also served a 10-year sentence for manslaughter in the 1985 Narita International Airport incident in which two baggage handlers were killed when a bomb went off.
Meanwhile, a national poll has shown that 45 per cent of Canadians support a formal apology by the federal government for the systemic failures of security and policing agencies before the Air India bombing. In B.C. and Ontario that percentage went up to 49.
I wonder if the rest are dumb or racist or both!
#2. LAIBAR SINGH CASE CONTINUES TO ANGER CANADIANS
As support for failed refugee Laibar Singh collapsed within the Indo-Canadian community - although some still tried to maintain a ridiculous façade of unity - media reports on the unpaid cost for his treatment only added fuel to the anger and resentment out there.
The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority said that his treatment at the spinal unit of the Vancouver General Hospital had cost $408,000 and at George Pearson Centre, a home for adults with severe disabilities, at $71,000, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper. About $50,000 of the $479,000 owed to VCH had been paid by the Interim Federal Health Program. The VCH was also trying to recover the remaining $429,000 from the Canada Border Services Agency and Immigration Canada.
Also, the money the government has lost in the booking and cancellation of air ambulance flights for him has cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Not a pretty picture at all, I dare say.
Meanwhile, the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Society of Delta-Surrey, in a press release, said that the seven-member committee that was established to pursue a resolution that was passed in a meeting of the community on March 1 was communicating with the Canada Border Services Agency. It said that Laibar Singh had authorized the South Asian Community Committee to deal with this issue and that they would keep the media and the community informed about further progress.
The CBSA has agreed to extend the deadline for Laibar Singh's surrender to the authorities until March 10 when the community will forfeit the $50,000 bond it had posted for him. The community leaders are trying to get a year's extension for Laibar Singh so that he can get recover properly before being sent back to India.
Temple President Balwant Gill told The VOICE on Thursday evening there was nothing new to report.
#3. SHOULD TRIBUNAL MEMBER OR CODE BE CHANGED?
Something's very wrong with either B.C. Human Rights Tribunal member Tonie Beharrell or the code in question.
In what appears to be a weird decision involving two bus drivers of the Coast Mountain Bus Company, he recently ruled that calling someone "f-king Hindu" is not racial discrimination under some technicality or the other. He said: "I cannot find that the racial slur constitutes a violation of s. 8(1)(b) of the Code."
The case involved Surinder Banwait and Jim Forsyth back in 2005 when the latter called the former "f-king Hindu."
(You can read the judgment at http://www.bchrt.bc.ca/decisions/2008/pdf/march/81_Banwait_v_Forsyth_(No_2)_2008_BCHRT_81.pdf)
The member, it appears, tries to cover this absurdity up with the conclusion: "This decision should not be taken as condoning Mr. Forsyth's comment or actions. However, it is not the purpose of the Code or the Tribunal to sanction all "bad behaviour" which occurs between parties. On all of the circumstances before me, I find that Mr. Forsyth's actions do not constitute discrimination for the purposes of the Code, and I therefore dismiss Mr. Banwait's complaint."
So if a code, in effect, says that it's okay for someone to call you "f-king Hindu," what's the use of that code?
Or is there something wrong with the member?
I would urge the Liberal government - and especially Attorney General Wally Oppal to look into this case. The NDP has criticized the Liberal government for watering down human rights in this province - and this case seems to speak volumes about it.
If codes and laws cannot protect us from racial slurs, what's the use of such asinine provisions?
This is sending the wrong message: since the codes and laws cannot protect us, let us take the law into our own hands to get justice!
#4. NEGATIVE STORIES
There were a slew of negative stories on Indo-Canadians and I decided to just keep them short. Here are some of them:
NARINDER 'PAUL' CHEEMA, who committed suicide after the murder of his wife, Surrey school principal SHEMINA HIRJI, was back in the news as CTV reported on the weekend that his dad, DIDAR CHEEMA, was trying to gain control of her estate. The media also reported that Hirji's brother SHAFIN HIRJI has in an affidavit said that Paul was to blame for his sister's murder, based on the search warrant information. The warrant said that Paul "attempted to clean up and clean off the blood from Shemina Cheema in the main-floor bathroom sink after he committed the murder." Therefore, Shafin argues that Paul's estate should not benefit from his "criminal act."
Back in 2004, this newspaper reported that "GURJIT SINGH SANDHER, 25, of Vancouver, and SUKHRAJ SANDER, 20, of Surrey were among the 16 people, arrested by the North Vancouver RCMP Drug Section after they concluded a lengthy investigation by executing search warrants on four residences in Vancouver. Police seized cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy and marihuana with a street value estimated at $400,000. Police also seized steroids, approximately $73,000 Canadian currency, a taser-type stun gun, some replica firearms and nine vehicles. The 16 arrested were mainly Caucasians, including French and East European, but also included two Indo-Canadians, a Latino and an East Asian. The group included two females." This week, a local newspaper reported that the B.C. Supreme Court recently sentenced Gurjit to jail for 18 months. The judge rejected his family's plea that his imprisonment would adversely affect his two kids, one with special needs. That was because the judge took into account the scope of the drug ring and his role in it, besides the damage the drugs cause. He was involved at a higher level but was not the controlling mind.
In its closing arguments in the trial of RAJINDER BENJI, who is accused in the 1998 first degree murder of MICHAEL MAHEDRA SINGH, the Crown told the B.C. Supreme Court that Singh was kidnapped by Benji and taxi driver PAUL BHATTI in order to force him to pony up the money he owed Bhatti. When he couldn't pay up, Singh was murdered and his body left in an alley in east Vancouver. Benji's former wife and a former lawyer testified against Benji, who represented himself in court and who argued that his wife was lying. This newspaper reported on the case in the October 27 and December 8 issues last year that you can access in the Archives Section of www.voiceonline.com.
LAKHVINDER KAHLON of Delta, who's charged with the January murder of his two-year-old daughter RAVJINDER, will appear in court again on April 1 after the Crown prosecutor told the court this week that he had he was fit to stand trial after a psychiatric assessment. Kahlon still needs treatment for depression and will remain in hospital for treatment. He was ordered not to have any contact with his other two daughters.
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