A brutal home invasion in Abbotsford shouldn't have happened. The horrific deaths of 77-year-old Arnold De Jong and his 76-year-old wife, Joanne, left a British Columbia community shattered. It also exposed a glaring breakdown in how Canada manages its borders and tracks visas. Three men in their twenties—Abhijeet Singh, Gurkaran Singh, and Khushveer Toor—were convicted of first-degree murder for the 2022 killings.
The tragedy goes beyond a robbery gone wrong. Two of these men entered the country on international student visas, yet at least one of them never set foot inside a single classroom. They exploited a well-known gap in oversight, and the victims' daughters are demanding answers about why the federal government let it happen.
If the government enforces its own rules, these men don't stay in the country, and a loving couple is still alive today.
The Deadly Price of Unchecked Visas
The details revealed during the B.C. Supreme Court trial are tough to read. The suspects previously did cleaning work on the De Jongs' rural property on Arcadian Way. They used that access to plan a targeted strike. When they broke in, Arnold died from asphyxiation after his entire head and face were wrapped in duct tape. Joanne was bludgeoned and her throat was slashed.
The killers stole cheques, credit cards, and a power washer. They even filmed themselves on the roof of the home a month prior and posted a TikTok showing one of the murder weapons.
The court heard that multiple suspects held international student visas but completely abandoned their studies to work and, ultimately, commit violent crimes. Heather Hoogland, one of the De Jongs' daughters, pointed out that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) policies state non-compliance with student visa terms should trigger immediate deportation.
It didn't. The system failed to track them, transforming an educational pathway into an unmonitored backdoor.
A Broken Safety Net and Delayed Justice
This isn't an isolated bureaucratic slip. Public safety advocates across B.C. note that local communities feel intense frustration over rising crime and extortion linked to unmonitored visa holders. The federal government acknowledged issues within the international student program, but system updates move too slow to protect people.
First-degree murder convictions carry an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. However, the legal system introduces another frustrating twist for the family.
- Defense lawyers filed a constitutional challenge regarding the parole eligibility rules for multiple murder victims.
- This specific challenge can potentially lower the parole eligibility window to 15 years.
- The legal maneuvering delays final sentencing hearings until at least September.
The irony stings. The suspects ignored Canadian laws from the moment they arrived, yet they benefit from constitutional protections to minimize their prison time. Daughter Sandra Barthel noted that allowing this challenge essentially signals that people can enter the country, commit heinous crimes, and get a fast track to parole consideration.
Demanding Accountability from the Ground Up
The real issue is execution. Canada issues hundreds of thousands of study permits annually, but the infrastructure to verify enrollment and deport non-compliant visas remains underfunded and passive.
To prevent similar tragedies, immigration enforcement requires hard changes:
- Real-time enrollment verification between post-secondary institutions and immigration officers to flag student dropouts instantly.
- Immediate, automated compliance audits when a student visa holder fails to register for consecutive semesters.
- Priority deportation enforcement for individuals found working full-time while completely violating their educational visa mandates.
True safety relies on strict enforcement, not just paperwork. If you want to see changes to public safety and visa accountability, contact your local Member of Parliament (MP) to demand stricter, automated compliance tracking for international study permits. You can also monitor court updates through the B.C. Supreme Court registry as the constitutional challenge goes to a hearing this September.
