An Indian national from Brampton, Ont., pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court on Friday to human smuggling as part of a network that potentially moved hundreds of people from India across the Canada-U.S. border.
Simranjit (Shally) Singh, 41, pleaded guilty to six counts of alien smuggling and three counts of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling during an appearance in Albany, N.Y., before Judge Mae A. D’Agostino.
Singh appeared in a short-sleeved orange jumpsuit with “ACCF Inmate” written on the back, which stands for Albany County Correctional Facility. He wore black-rimmed glasses, with salt and pepper stubble spread down his cheeks and chin. There was a small tattoo behind his left ear and another scrawled down his left forearm.
None of Singh’s family or friends appeared at the hearing.
Singh’s plea agreement included an admission that he arranged to smuggle people into the U.S. from India by flying them to Calgary, Toronto and Montreal, before transporting them to Cornwall, Ont. Singh then moved the Indian nationals by boat across the St. Lawrence River through Akwesasne, a Haudenosaunee community that straddles the Canada-U.S. border and sits about 120 kilometres west of Montreal.
U.S. authorities said Singh bragged he smuggled more than 1,000 people into the U.S. from Canada.
The case against Singh was based on evidence gathered through surveillance, Facebook messages and human sources related to four failed smuggling attempts across the St. Lawrence River between March 2020 and April 2022, according to court records.
Singh acted as a broker, charging $5,000 to $35,000 per person to smuggle mainly Indian nationals into the U.S. He then paid people in Akwesasne between $2,000 to $3,000 per person to take them across the river through the community’s territory.
Crews search for bodies on the St. Lawrence River in Akwesasne on March 31, 2023, following a fatal smuggling attempt that left eight people dead. (Christinne Muschi/Reuters)
Singh’s indictment is not connected to the deaths of eight suspected migrants — including four Indian citizens — on the St. Lawrence in March.
However, there are similarities in Singh’s routes and tactics, and those used by the network behind the fatal human smuggling attempt, which also left a Romanian family of four dead.
The plea agreement included the admission that Singh, using locals, loaded Indian nationals on boats which launched from Cornwall Island in Akwesasne, across the water to the southern shore of the St. Lawrence River, where they were picked up in vehicles and taken to nearby New York state motels.
This was the same route followed by the Indian and Romanian families who died in March.
A cog in a bigger network
After the hearing, Singh’s lawyer, Lee Kindlon, told CBC News that his client was likely exaggerating when he claimed he smuggled 1,000 people over the border. Kindlon said Singh was just a cog in a much bigger network.
“Hopefully through sentencing, we can show that his role in this larger enterprise was actually quite small,” said Kindlon, with the Albany-based Kindlon Law Firm.
“I’m not sure how much he entirely knows about the larger network. Everyone answers to somebody else, but who is on top of the food chain, I am not sure he knew or understood.”
Defence lawyer Lee Kindlon says his client, Simranjit Singh, was just a cog in a much larger network. (Jorge Barrera/CBC)
Singh was also suffering from depression and anxiety in jail, Kindlon said.
Singh’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 28, 2023. He faces a potential prison sentence ranging from five to 15 years and deportation to India.
“He has always been regretful about getting carried away in this whole thing,” said Kindlon. “Saying guilty here is the first step toward redemption and ultimately acceptance of punishment and responsibility.”
Evidence gathered by U.S. authorities shows Singh exploited vulnerable Akwesasne members facing addiction and poverty as part of his operation.
Singh, who was facing deportation from Canada when he was arrested and extradited, originally arrived in Montreal from India in 2010 with his then-wife and one child, and filed refugee claims. His mother then arrived with his other child and also filed refugee claims. All five were ultimately rejected, according to court records.
Canadian authorities could not return them to India because the Indian Consulate refused to provide travel documents.
Singh attempted to stay in Canada after marrying a second wife, who sponsored him. That application was pending at the time of his arrest in the summer of 2022.
Smuggled during COVID-19 outbreak
The U.S. case against Singh grew from his failed attempt to smuggle three Indian nationals into the U.S. in March 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a shutdown of the border.
In this instance, he used a single mother of two from Akwesasne dealing with severe trauma and facing care-related costs for one of her children, who required extensive hospitalization, according to court records.
The woman is said to have picked up three Indian nationals after they crossed the St. Lawrence River, driving them to a motel over the eastern border of Akwesasne, which was under watch by U.S. Border Patrol.
A sunrise over the St. Lawrence River, shown from the eastern tip of Cornwall Island, Akwesasne, on April 3, 2022. (Jorge Barrera/CBC)
Agents stopped her vehicle the next day, after she returned and picked up the three Indian nationals, who tried running from the traffic stop. The woman also tried to flee, eventually crashing into four Border Patrol vehicles.
In another case in late winter 2021, a family in India allegedly paid Singh thousands of dollars to smuggle a family member into the U.S. Singh drove the individual to a motel in Cornwall, Ont.
“Singh bragged about smuggling over 1,000 people and that [the Indian national] had nothing to worry about,” according to U.S. records.
The Indian national boarded a boat on March 4 with three other migrants, and landed on a U.S. portion of Akwesasne governed by the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council. But no one was there to pick them up.
The tribal police found three of them and called U.S. Border Patrol. The fourth was found at a motel in Massena, N.Y.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
