On April 6, 2018, at about 5pm, in clear weather a good visibility, a semi-truck driven by Jaskirat Singh Sidhu ran a stop sign and collided with a bus carrying 29 passengers from the Humboldt Broncos Junior hockey team. The crash killed 16 people (10 players aged 16-21, coaches, staff and others) and injured 13, some severely, with permanent lasting disabilities.
Sidhu was a permanent resident from India living in Calgary and was a rookie driver employed by Adesh Deol Trucking Ltd, a small company operating for about 1 year. In the 11 days leading up to the crash, he committed 70 violations of federal and provincial regulations, none of which were detected or penalized at the time. Had Sidhu been stopped and inspected prior to his crash, he would have been declared out-of-service for 72 hours due to these inspection failures, which included driving beyond the maximum without required rest to prevent fatigue-related errors. His employer and owner of Adesh Deol, Sukhmander Singh, was fined $5000.
Forensic analysis confirmed he did not brake before running the oversized stop sign (1.2 meters wide with flashing red lights, preceded by rumble strips and warning signs).
After the collision, Sidhu emerged uninjured, and called his boss, instead of 911. He did not assist his victims, despite hearing screams and “kids crying”.
Sidhu initially told the RCMP the sun was in his eyes, which was debunked. He later changed his story to the distraction of a flapping tarp, which was also disputed. In court, Sidhu expressed remorse and stated the crash resulted from his “lack of experience”.
In 2019, Sidhu was sentenced to 8 years in prison – he was granted full parole just a few years later in 2023.
Now, CBC news reporter Karen Pauls has written what online users have described as a “puff piece”, using family photos shared by Sidhu’s wife of Sidhu with his children, and writing that his legal deportation for killing 16 people may result in Sidhu’s family being “torn apart”.
The story was blasted by former NHL player Chris Joseph, whose son was killed by Sidhu in the crash.
“It’s absolutely been unfair and biased,” Joseph told Media Bezirgan, the channel of independent journalist XXX Bezirgan. “We don’t trust the media.”
Joseph went on to describe how CBC writer “Karen Pauls twisted the narrative” and concluding that Pauls has exhibited a strong CBC media bias favoring forgiveness narratives, instead of following existing legal processes, selectively editing her interviews and “twisting the narrative”, even amongst the victims of the crash.
These claims appear in independent and alternative media clips and social media discussions, with many calling CBC’s approach “propaganda” and biased towards compassion over accountability.
