A truck hauls a shipping container at the Port of Montreal, in Montreal, Quebec on June 10, 2024. (Photo by GRAHAM HUGHES/AFP via Getty Images)
An Ontario judge has sentenced two Indian immigrants to house arrest for two years less a day after they ran truck driving schools that didn’t offer entry-level students the minimum required training.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Pierre Roger called the fraudulent driving schools “an elaborate scheme,” which involved nearly 100 truck driver students over two years.
“The truck driver students were robbed of the proper training they had paid for, and their lack of proper training created an additional risk to the welfare of road users, impacting the community and the reputation of truck drivers,” Roger wrote in his Oct. 29 decision.
Following a five-week trial, a jury convicted Gurvinder Singh, 69, and Gurpreet Singh, 37, one count each of fraud over $5,000 and uttering a forged document, as they were found to have offered fraudulent mandatory entry-level training to students seeking to obtain a Class A truck driving license, the decision says.
Roger gave both individuals conditional sentences of two years less a day, to be served in the community, saying neither offender presented risk to the safety of their community. He also said the sentence would “sufficiently curb” the risk of the individuals committing the crime again.
“The magnitude, complexity, duration, number of victims, and degree of planning involved in the offences is aggravating,” Roger wrote, noting the offences impacted the community and the truck driver students.
The Crown had sought a five-year imprisonment sentence for each individual, saying time served in prison “is the norm” in cases of “large-scale fraud.” However, the individuals argued that their case did not involve “large-scale fraud” and said a fit sentence would be a conditional sentence of 12 to 18 months, the decision says.
Mandatory Entry-Level Training
Since 2017, Ontario residents seeking to obtain a Class A driver’s license to operate large commercial trucks are required to go through mandatory entry-level training (MELT). The training aims to “increase safety for road users” by implementing minimum standards that commercial truck drivers have to meet before they can attempt their Class A license road test.
The court learned that between January 2019 and May 2021, the offenders “occasionally” paid an interpreter, Hanifa Khokhar, and her husband to facilitate some of their students to cheat on the Class A knowledge test by suggesting some of the answers while she was interpreting. The students were “of South Asian ethnicity, largely new immigrants,” the decision says.
The court also found that Gurvinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh each operated a truck driver school that was not authorized to offer MELT and “fraudulently did not offer its students the minimum training required to satisfy the MELT standards,” the decision says.
“Instead, each of the offenders, at his respective truck driver school, obtained payment from its commercial truck driver candidates or students yet offered only basic truck driver training that did not comply with the MELT course standards,” Roger wrote.
He noted that the offenders also allegedly paid Charanjit Deol and her husband, who operated a registered private career college that was authorized to offer MELT, for “unlawful access” to the Ministry of Transportation’s database to falsify their students’ MELT completion.
All four of the co-accused, including the Khokhars and the Deols, pled guilty to fraud over $5,000.
“Unlike some other frauds, most of the students who testified in this trial were satisfied with the training and services that they received from the offenders. Some were thankful for the services they received and for their truck driver career,” Roger said in his decision.
‘Jeopardizes Road Safety’
Roger said the community was impacted in many ways, as “substandard training leaves truck driver students ill-prepared, could lead to dangerous situations, and jeopardizes road safety.” He said this puts the public at risk and undermines the integrity of the trucking industry.
Numerous commercial trucking accidents across Canada have brought the issue of substandard training to national prominence. Quebec’s chief coroner ordered a public inquiry on Oct. 10 to examine what’s behind the surge of deadly truck collisions in the province in recent months.
The inquiry comes amid warnings from trucking industry representatives who say an increase in unqualified truck drivers in the province is contributing to the deadly accidents. They say some companies, mostly based in Ontario, take advantage of immigrant drivers by paying low wages and forcing them to work below industry standards.
In 2024, 100 of 379 road deaths in Quebec involved heavy vehicle accidents including trucks, tractors, and school buses, according to the province’s auto insurance board. This marks a 35 percent increase from 2023.
Alberta also shut down a number of driving schools and suspended 13 commercial trucking companies for operating below provincial standards on Oct. 3.
A House of Commons transport committee is currently conducting an ongoing study into trucking safety and regulations in Canada.
Paul Rowan Brian and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.