I am glad to see Canadian government is not in a mood to let Canada become a playground for terrorists.
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A one-time British leader of the now-banned Babbar Khalsa terrorist group has been ordered to appear at an immigration hearing to decide whether he should be admissible to Canada.
Gurmej Singh Gill arrived in Vancouver to visit relatives in late November and was supposed to be returning to his Birmingham, England home on Dec. 22.
But instead of leaving Canada with his wife, he was ordered to appear before an immigration and refugee board adjudicator under the security section of the Immigration Act.
IRB communications adviser Melissa Anderson confirmed Monday that Gill had an admissibility hearing scheduled for Jan. 27. It has been postponed and it is yet to be rescheduled.
Anderson said the hearing will likely be held in late February or early March.
She said Gill was referred for the hearing under section 34 1(f) of the Act, which says someone is inadmissible to Canada if they are a member of an organization that there are reasonable grounds to believe engages, has engaged or will engage in acts of espionage, subversion or terrorism.
Neither Gill nor his lawyer Sukhjinder Grewal could be reached for comment Monday.
It is not the first time the former Babbar Khalsa leader has run into problems with Canadian immigration officials.
He was arrested at Vancouver airport in August 2001 when he arrived for his sons wedding in Surrey and was sent back to England without attending the festivities.
Gill earlier told The Vancouver Sun that he renounced his membership in the Babbar Khalsa International in 2001, after the group was banned in the U.K.
But he also said that during the period he headed the British branch of the organization, I had done nothing wrong.
People who do believe in violence I had nothing to do with them because British law doesnt allow these things, he said.
For years Gill called himself Gurmej Singh Babbar and regularly visited B.C., where he once lived.
The Babbar Khalsa was put on the banned terrorist list in Canada in 2003, years after it had been linked to the June 23, 1985 Air India bombing that left 329 people dead.
Two men tied to the Babbar Khalsa were charged and later acquitted in the bombing, which remains Canadas deadliest act of terror.
Suspected Air India bombing mastermind and former Burnaby resident Talwinder Singh Parmar founded the Babbar Khalsa as a militant group to fight for Khalistan, the name given to the mythical Sikh nation members wanted carved out of Indias Punjab.
Parmar left Canada for India in 1988 and was later arrested by police and killed in custody in October 1992.
Read more: Former Sikh terrorist group leader ordered before immigration board in Vancouver
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A one-time British leader of the now-banned Babbar Khalsa terrorist group has been ordered to appear at an immigration hearing to decide whether he should be admissible to Canada.
Gurmej Singh Gill arrived in Vancouver to visit relatives in late November and was supposed to be returning to his Birmingham, England home on Dec. 22.
But instead of leaving Canada with his wife, he was ordered to appear before an immigration and refugee board adjudicator under the security section of the Immigration Act.
IRB communications adviser Melissa Anderson confirmed Monday that Gill had an admissibility hearing scheduled for Jan. 27. It has been postponed and it is yet to be rescheduled.
Anderson said the hearing will likely be held in late February or early March.
She said Gill was referred for the hearing under section 34 1(f) of the Act, which says someone is inadmissible to Canada if they are a member of an organization that there are reasonable grounds to believe engages, has engaged or will engage in acts of espionage, subversion or terrorism.
Neither Gill nor his lawyer Sukhjinder Grewal could be reached for comment Monday.
It is not the first time the former Babbar Khalsa leader has run into problems with Canadian immigration officials.
He was arrested at Vancouver airport in August 2001 when he arrived for his sons wedding in Surrey and was sent back to England without attending the festivities.
Gill earlier told The Vancouver Sun that he renounced his membership in the Babbar Khalsa International in 2001, after the group was banned in the U.K.
But he also said that during the period he headed the British branch of the organization, I had done nothing wrong.
People who do believe in violence I had nothing to do with them because British law doesnt allow these things, he said.
For years Gill called himself Gurmej Singh Babbar and regularly visited B.C., where he once lived.
The Babbar Khalsa was put on the banned terrorist list in Canada in 2003, years after it had been linked to the June 23, 1985 Air India bombing that left 329 people dead.
Two men tied to the Babbar Khalsa were charged and later acquitted in the bombing, which remains Canadas deadliest act of terror.
Suspected Air India bombing mastermind and former Burnaby resident Talwinder Singh Parmar founded the Babbar Khalsa as a militant group to fight for Khalistan, the name given to the mythical Sikh nation members wanted carved out of Indias Punjab.
Parmar left Canada for India in 1988 and was later arrested by police and killed in custody in October 1992.
Read more: Former Sikh terrorist group leader ordered before immigration board in Vancouver
