Your Singhs today (Alberta edition)

Regular readers of this ever-lengthening series will know that we usually try to post photos of the perps of the smuggling, extortion and murders for which Canada's Sikh community has become notorious. But the people who committed this particular crime are still at large, so we'll being with a picture of the victim.

Birinder Singh, aged 22, was shot to death earlier this month on  Highway 2, south of Edmonton AB, near Township Road 490, south of Leduc.

According to the RCMP (who have not yet got their man) three friends were headed to the mountains on the afternoon of 14 March when a pickup truck pulled up beside their Honda Civic.

Witnesses saw the truck pull up beside a car and then speed off. According to the two survivors of the shooting, a person in the truck made a hand gesture toward them, something resembling a peace sign. The meaning would depend on the colour of the person making the gesture.

The witnesses said their friend and Mr Singh, who was driving the car, waved back. How many fingers they used is not known. Moments later, someone in the truck opened fire and a bullet struck Mr Singh in the neck. The friends took control of the steering wheel and pulled the car over to the side of the highway. There Mr Singh died in the vehicle from loss of blood. 

According to the friends, Mr Singh moved three years ago from India to... wait for it... Brampton ON, on an international student visa. He studied business administration at the Singh School of Truck Driving before relocating to Edmonton in October. Since then, the business administration student worked in construction, installing siding. He was on his way to see the Canadian Rockies for the first time when he was killed. 

Sergeant Preston of the Yukonf said investigators located the truck, a Grey 2022 Ford F-150, last week but the suspect remains at large as the Mounties continue their search for a suspect and a motive.

Here's a related news flash. CTV News reports that, to the surprise of no-one, Karen Hogan, Canada's Auditor General, found reforms to the international student program "fell short" on improving integrity, including only investigating a small number of "potentially problematic" cases flagged by post-secondary institutions. 

Her report, released this morning, found that out of 153,324 potentially non-compliant students reported by schools to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in 2023 and 2024, the government only had the ability to investigate about 2000 a year, or 4057 in total. 

Within those investigations, the AG’s report found that 1654 students did not respond to IRCC's two inquiries. And... spoiler alert... "the department took limited action to confirm non‑compliance beyond contacting the student for more information."

Speaking to the meeja after submitting her report to the Liberal government to be filed and forgotten, reporters on Parliament Hill on Monday, the Auditor General said it's "concerning" to see the IRCC’s lack of action. "I think they’re just not acting on the information they have," Ms Hogan said. "And I would expect them to do that. They have the powers and the tools. They just need to use them."

If the IRCC did what Ms Hogan suggests, Marx Carnage's Liberal government would be in danger of losing as many as 24 seats -- notably in Brampton, Surrey BC and Edmonton -- in the House of Commons. So don't expect any such action until there are reliable reports of sub-zero temperatures in Hades.

Your Singhs today - The secret to remaining in Canada

We couldn't let the week end without a story about Sikhs who have entered Canuckistan by questionable means, and stayed on, in spite of questionable behaviour, whether their hosts country like it or not. 

Today we present the heart-warming story of Jagjit Singh, who has been allowed by the Federal Court of Canada to remain in the country "on compassionate grounds", just moments before minions of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) were set to begin the physical deportation process.

Mr Singh, whose current location is a state secret, arrived in Canada in 2021 on a temporary resident visa and immediately filed a refugee claim. [SFX，music: "As Time Goes By".] In January 2025, he married "L.B.", a Canadian citizen, and withdrew his refugee claim shortly after she submitted an inland spousal sponsorship application on his behalf. 

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) -- the government department whose mission is to welcome half a million foreigners to Canada in the coming year -- confirmed in May that L.B. met the eligibility criteria to sponsor Mr Singh, but no decision on his application for permanent residence application has yet been made. 

In early August, Mr Singh asked the CBSA to defer his removal until at least a preliminary decision was made on his sponsorship application. [SFX: "As Time Goes By" swells in background.] The CBSA refused, citing insufficient evidence that his removal would cause serious harm.

Federal Court Justice Avvy Yao-Yao Go disagreed, finding that the immigration officer misinterpreted their discretion and failed to properly assess evidence that Singh's removal would significantly harm his wife, who suffers from... wait for it... ADHD and relies on him for daily structure, medication reminders, and financial support. 

The judge did not discose L.B.'s name, let alone her race or religion -- issues of privacy, you know -- but noted that L.B. has no other reliable family support and that Mr Singh also contributes financially to his sister's household, where the couple lives. 

Justice Go acknowledged the public interest in enforcing removal orders -- murmurs from the well of the court: "Yah, sure. Hahahahaha." -- but said she found that any delay in processing Mr Singh's permanent residence application lay with IRCC, not the innocent Sikh! "Taking into consideration the irreparable harm to the Applicant’s spouse," she ruled, "granting the stay until the underlying application is determined would be just and equitable."

So Mr Singh remains in Canada, his deportation now on hold until the court decides whether to grant judicial review of CBSA’s decision to deny his deferral request. [SFX: "As Time Goes By", up and out.]

Justice Go, who was appointed to the Federal Court of Canada by Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface, has no legal training. However, she was for years a human rights advocate championing better treatment of migrant workers, refugees, asylum-seekers, etc and so forth. 

Walt is unable to find any record of her having denied any application by any such person to remain in the Great No-longer-white North. So the secret to being allowed to remain in Canada is obviously: when you're judge-shopping, shop wisely!

Thanks and a big bowl of Meow Mix to BCF for the lead.

Memo from Ed. to Walt: I'm really sorry, but I couldn't figure out how to embed the SFX. Readers will just have to hum it to themselves.