Less than a year after being sentenced for a drunken crash that killed two people, a Calgary man has been granted day parole. But any freedom Ali Montoya has in Canada could be short lived.
Last November, Montoya was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
Montoya was impaired and driving nearly double the speed limit when he ran a red light with his Cadillac Escalade, hitting a taxi and another car.
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The cab driver, Amritpal Kharbanda, and his passenger, 25-year-old Jillian Lavallee, were both killed. The driver of the other vehicle suffered serious injuries.
In a written decision obtained by Global News, the parole board deemed Montoya, now 22, a low risk to reoffend.
“You have reflected on the tragedy and made a commitment to live an alcohol-free life going forward,” the board said.
Montoya isn’t a Canadian citizen and faces deportation to his home country of Mexico.
That has his victims’ families questioning how he can be released on day parole.
“You just think you live in this country that is so just — then things happen and you think, ‘Where is the justice in all of that?’ It isn’t there,” Jillian Lavallee’s mother, Brenda, told Global News on Friday.
So far, the Canada Border Services Agency hasn’t ordered a hearing to pursue a removal order for Montoya.
“How can they not know he would be up for a parole hearing? Is our system so badly organized that they don’t know that?” Jillian’s father, Dan, asked.
The parole board has warned Montoya “a file for enforcement action has been initiated.”
“If you are granted day parole and the CBSA makes a decision to pursue a deportation order, your day parole will become inoperative and you will be returned to custody,” the board said.
Sources confirm Montoya will fight any deportation order. Once a removal order is issued, he can appeal.
The earliest date he could be deported is May 11, 2018 — that’s the date he’s eligible for full parole.
“I think it’s a privilege to be a Canadian. I don’t think deserves to be here,” Brenda Lavallee said. “If he is not a citizen he should not be treated like one.”
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