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The mother of a fentanyl victim is questioning why a B.C. politician brought a relative facing a serious fentanyl-related criminal charge onto the campaign trail.

Kasimir (Kaz) Tyabji-Sandana, of Calgary, was arrested and charged in 2015 with importing a controlled substance after police intercepted a package marked as a muffler from China at Vancouver’s International Mail Centre.

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The parcel was addressed to someone in Calgary and contained 122 grams of pure fentanyl, the synthetic opioid detected in about 61 per cent of the 1,278 illicit-drug overdose deaths in B.C. between Jan. 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017.

Tyabji-Sandana has been free on bail since late 2015. The charge has yet to be proven in court and a five-day trial is set for Sept. 11.

In recent months, Mathew Wilson, the B.C. Liberal candidate for the Powell River-Sunshine Coast riding, has been spotted campaigning with Tyabji-Sandana, who is his stepbrother.