The new website launched Thursday is a list of individuals inadmissable to Canada, usually permanent residents who have been convicted of crimes and therefore subject to removal from Canada for breaching their undertaking as permanent residents by breaking Canadian law. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said the individuals on the new list were permanent residents of Canada, many of whom have lived in Canada for decades and may have come to the country as young children. The CBSA is targeting individuals convicted of serious crimes like murder, sexual assaults and drug trafficking. “They will find no haven on our shores,” Toews vowed.
TORONTO — The Conservative government expanded their hunt of “Wanted by the CBSA” this week to include individuals who have failed to comply with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and have criminal convictions in Canada.
The 32 people on Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ new list are in addition to 30 suspected of war crimes that he named in late July, when the Canada Border Services Agency launched a website identifying the suspects and calling for any information that could lead to their whereabouts.
“Canadians are taking a stand against those who are in our country illegally,” said Toews. “Our Government is committed to removing individuals who are inadmissible because they are suspected of, or complicit in, war crimes or crimes against humanity and those who have been convicted for acts of serious criminality committed in Canada.”
The second website launched Thursday is a list of individuals inadmissable to Canada, usually permanent residents who have been convicted of crimes and therefore subject to removal from Canada for breaching their undertaking as permanent residents by breaking Canadian law.
Toews and Luc Portelance, President of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), who joined Toews in making the announcement in Toronto Thursday morning, explained that once a permanent resident is convicted of a crime and has served his or her sentence, if the Immigration and Refugee Board does not grant a detention order within 48 hours, the individual may be released on a bond. At this stage, some individuals disappear and cannot be located by the authorities for removal from Canada.
Toews said the individuals on the new list were permanent residents of Canada, many of whom have lived in Canada for decades and may have come to the country as young children. The CBSA is targeting individuals convicted of serious crimes like murder, sexual assaults and drug trafficking.
“They will find no haven on our shores,” Toews vowed.
This list targets only a few of the estimated 1400 individuals in the Toronto area, and approximately 2700 individuals nationally who are currently wanted for removal from Canada. The list of 32 includes four who may be in Lower Mainland, including the lone Indo-Canadian named on the list
Satpal Singh Jhatu, who goes by several names, is wanted by the authorities after he apparently slipped away following his release from serving time for murder.
Jhatu, 43, was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life after agreeing to take a $10,000 and a job as murder for hire from his boss Jagraj Toore to kill Toore’s Ranjit Toore, a Matsqui mother of six, in 1987.
Jhatu, 18 at the time, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to beating the woman to death with a bat, pouring gas over her body, and setting fire to her brutalized corpse, reported the Province newspaper.
But in 1996, Federal Court Judge James A. Jerome upheld an immigration ruling that had overturned a deportation order against Jhatu.
Jhatu was eventually released from his sentence in 2004 after he promised Canadian officials he would return to India if they let him out of jail. But the artful dodger failed to board his scheduled flight. He has been missing ever since.
The CBSA says Jhatu was last seen in Port Coquitlam, and he uses several names. His name was spelled “Jhatoo” in a 1996 Vancouver Province story.
To date, tips from the public have helped in the successful apprehension of six individuals on the original list of 30 announced on July 21 and three have been deported, while two more were located outside Canada.
The CBSA, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police work cooperatively with international partners to ensure that those who have failed to comply with the IRPA, have been found to be inadmissible and have criminal convictions in the country, find no sanctuary in Canada.
On the first website, the names and photographs of the 30 men are accompanied by a statement that reads: “It has been determined that they violated human or international rights under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act or under international law.”
“They will find no haven on our shores,” Toews vowed.
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