Photo: Castanet

A Kelowna drug dealer is being sentenced for 2022 fentanyl and cocaine trafficking.

A street-level cocaine and fentanyl dealer pledged to be a better man, though that didn't sway the judge who ensured he will spend time in a Canadian prison before being sent to his home country.

“Given the ever-increasing destructive force of the opioid epidemic affecting this country, and the widespread, unremitting, and bloody-minded willingness of drug traffickers to exploit at-risk populations and communities at all points on the compass... sentences for those who choose to traffic in fentanyl have to be ramped up across the board,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gary Weatherill said to Mandeep Pandher.

After serving the 30 month prison sentence for three trafficking convictions, Pandher, 26, will be sent to his home country, India — that was the only certainty that awaited him as the sentencing hearing got underway Tuesday morning.

On what was supposed to be the first day of his trial, Crown counsel Mark Chiu told the court that a removal and exclusion order was already in place for Pandher. Regardless of his sentence, Chiu said, Pandher was going back to his home country.

Pandher, Chiu said, originally entered Canada on a student visa and was enrolled at the University of Toronto. When he dropped out, he breached the conditions of his stay, clearing the way for his ouster from Canada.

The time between dropping out and getting involved in Kelowna's drug trade wasn't offered in court, though it appeared he did the latter with some enthusiasm.

After an investigation that spanned months, Pandher was arrested on May 17, 2022, near a Kelowna drug stash house.

When they picked him up, officers found 92 pre-packaged drug bags on him, containing a total of 10 grams of fentanyl, three grams of crack cocaine, and 157 grams of cocaine.

Speaking before the court, however, Pandher seemed to lean more into those prior scholarly pursuits, expressing regret for his actions by referencing philosophers and literary works of art.

He told the court he read extensively in the years he awaited his trial, listing Socrates, Camus, Plato, Sigmund Freud, and Dostoevsky among the authors and philosophers whose work forced him to “confront the truth.”

“It was humbling and helped me see how easily we lose ourselves when we stop being honest, especially with ourselves,” he said.

During this time, Pandher also learned his brother back home was struggling with alcohol addiction. This, he said, gave him “a new empathy and understanding of how powerful and destructive addiction can be, and how important it is to respond with compassion.”

He added that he now better understands how his actions have affected others.

“As an immigrant, I came here to build a better life, and I failed to live up to that responsibility,” he said.
“But I have changed. I am not the man I was two, three years ago.”

He asked the court for a sentence that would allow him to continue his personal growth.

“Whether through house arrest or community service, I want to give back,” he said. “I want to work. I want to help others avoid the path I took.”

His words did not sway the courts to lessen his sentence. Crown counsel had suggested three years, his defence lawyer had asked for a two year conditional sentence. The judge split the difference, highlighting the gravity of the crime.

Pandher was arrested alongside two others involved in the drug operation. One is currently in prison, and the other—his wife—has already been deported to India.

Defence counsel Nick Acker told the court the couple remains in regular contact despite the distance.