Canada News

Calgary Herald

CALGARY — Waves of shock and grief roiled a quiet Calgary residential community Friday, as neighbours struggled to process the discovery of four bodies — three of them infants — in an area home.

Calgary police continued to say very little Friday about what they were calling the "suspicious death" of 27-year-old Harsimrat Kahlon and three "newborns," whose bodies were found Sunday in a rental suite.

Police made the discovery public Thursday.

Police still won't say whether the children were Kahlon's, whether they were triplets or born separately, or specify their ages and sexes.

Even neighbours who knew Kahlon — and no one seems to be claiming to have known her well — said they were completely taken aback by the circumstances of her death.

Can terrorist be lawyer?
1984 hijacker seeks to avoid deportation

By SAM PAZZANO, COURTS BUREAU

A convicted hijacker and terrorist who is facing deportation tried to convince the Law Society of Upper Canada that he's rehabilitated and should be called to practise law in Ontario.

Parminder Singh Saini testified yesterday he made a "terrible, wrong decision" when he commandeered a five-man Sikh team that hijacked an Indian Airlines jet with 265 passengers in July 1984.

"I had no legitimate right to do that ... It's not legal," said the now 46-year-old Saini, who graduated from University of Windsor law school two years ago, and was testifying at a "good character" hearing at the law society.

He blamed his youth, ignorance and naivete for blindly following the orders of an extremist student group.

But discipline counsel Susan Heakes said Saini recruited hijackers, brandished and fired a gun. He threatened to "start throwing dead bodies out of the plane" while conducting 20 hours of tense negotiations with Pakistani authorities after forcing the Airbus to land in Lahore, Pakistan. No one was seriously hurt and the hijackers surrendered.

"He requires a veritable mountain of good character evidence to rebut an act of terrorism, although it is not impossible," Heakes said.

Kelly McParland, Full Comment Canadian politics

There's been some web traffic on a Liberal proposal to allow elderly immigrants to qualify for the Canada Pension Plan after just three years in the country. It's usually accompanied by a video of Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla introducing the proposal last spring, seconded by Bob Rae. People, especially pensioners, are upset that immigrants should get access so quickly, having never paid into the system like the rest of us.

The only problem with the issue is that there's nothing to it. Dhalla did introduce a private member's bill, Bill C-428, but it relates only to the  Old Age Security program, and does not change any of the rules regarding access to the Canada Pension Plan.

By Mike McIntyre , Winnipeg Free Press

WINNIPEG — Three Sikh priests have been ordered to stand trial for allegedly sexually abusing a young boy for years in a bizarre case that has divided their community.

Bakhshish Singh, 49; Kuljit Singh, 45; and Dalbag Singh, 39, were told the news by a judge after a preliminary hearing Wednesday. A court-ordered ban prevents details of the case from being published.

Police began investigating in December 2006 after the three priests were kidnapped from Gurdwara Nanaksar temple in Winnipeg.

A 26-year-old stormed inside the temple and accused the trio of molesting him from the time he was eight years old until he was 15.

He was armed with a ceremonial sword, which he maintains he was carrying out of religious tradition, and not as a weapon.