Richmond MP Kenny Chiu has written to the federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, highlighting the death of local woman Christy Mahy, caused by a refugee claimant with a long and recent criminal record.
In his letter, which was co-signed by two fellow Conservative MPs, Chiu takes the minister to task over the clear failings of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in allowing Albanian native Erjon Kashari into Canada in 2010, despite having deported from the UK in 2009 for a string of serious crimes.
Kashari’s reckless driving caused the horrific death of 34-year-old pedestrian Mahy in 2014 at the intersection of Russ Baker Way and the Dinsmore Bridge.
He managed to get out of Canada shortly after the accident, before being extradited from Albania in 2020 to eventually be sentenced to two years – or time already served – for causing Mahy’s death.
Chiu, MP for Steveston-Richmond East, referenced his concern over the “long standing negligence within the CBSA” and how Kashari is “but one of many examples of mishandling by the department.”
In his letter, he made specific reference to the 2020 Auditor General of Canada’s scathing report into the massive backlog of around 50,000 cases of refugee claimant removal orders awaiting the CBSA to process, several thousand of which have a criminal element with their whereabouts in Canada unknown.
“The CBSA has agreed to follow the recommendations of the Auditor General, including improving its data management and case management practices and working with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Refugee Board of Canada to make pre-removal risk assessment decisions in a timely manner,” wrote Chiu to Minister Blair.
“We request the Minister to go a step further and take measures to ensure that foreign nationals in Canada undergo thorough review and are met with swift removal should they pose a danger to the Canadian public.”
In response to the letter, the press secretary for the Liberal Party’s Blair highlighted to the Richmond News the fact that Kashari had entered the country as a criminal, in 2010, when Canada was under the Conservative leadership of Stephen Harper.
The News has tried repeatedly over the last few months to get an explanation from the federal government, including the CBSA and the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), as to why Kashari was able to slip into Canada so easily and roam free for four years, despite his recent deportation from the UK.
Indeed, his past criminal behaviour – which continued in Norway after he left Canada in 2014 – only came to light at his sentencing at Richmond Provincial Court in March this year.
A simple search on the Internet showed at least one of Kashari’s crimes while he lived in the UK, prior to entering Canada.
After passing the political buck back to the Conservatives, Blair’s press secretary continued, “We know that under their Deficit Reduction Action Plan $390M was slashed from the CBSA leading to the loss of hundreds of officers’ jobs,” said Blair’s press secretary.
“Since forming government, we have made significant investments to permit the CBSA to do their jobs and the agency has taken many steps to better deliver on its mandate in relation to removals.
“As outlined in July 2020 in response to the latest Auditor General’s report on removals, the CBSA will also enhance the way it tracks and triages cases to ensure priority cases are actioned quickly.
“This includes continuing to implement a data integrity strategy to ensure that it can quickly identify the stages all cases are at so they can move forward in a timely fashion.”
The CBSA, added Blair’s press secretary, is also “taking steps to locate foreign nationals whose whereabouts are unknown by completing a review of all outstanding cases, prioritizing criminal cases, and focusing investigations on the most concerning cases.
“Finally, the CBSA will develop an incentive program to increase voluntary compliance.”
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