[R-G] Popular mobilization prevents Vancouver deportation

[Anthony Fenton]

Crowd prevents Vancouver deportation

ERIK MJANES

Canadian Press

December 10, 2007 at 8:16 PM EST

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RICHMOND, B.C. — The Canada Border Services Agency has stayed the  
deportation of a paralyzed Indian man after a standoff at Vancouver  
International Airport.

“For safety and security reasons, Mr. Singh's deportation has been  
delayed,” Derek Mellon, a spokesman for the agency, said Monday.

He would not provide any information about when the removal order  
would be enforced.

About 500 people gathered Monday morning outside the departures level  
of the airport surrounding a van carrying Laibar Singh.

By noon, the crowd had grown to over a thousand, many holding signs  
and chanting slogans.

Supporters stood atop cars with a megaphone leading chants in English  
and Punjabi against the Conservative government and immigration  
officials.

The agency was forced to delay Mr. Singh's deportation once it became  
clear officials would have to transport him through the crowd of  
supporters.

Border services officials said they were not willing to wade into the  
crowd to escort Mr. Singh to his flight.

For more than three hours, a standoff between supporters and security  
officials filled the street in front of the international departures  
area.

In front of the Cathay Pacific reservation desk, RCMP officers  
consulted with airport staff as Mr. Singh's 2:30 p.m. PST flight time  
neared.

Harsha Walia of the human rights group No One is Illegal broke the  
news Mr. Singh's deportation had been stayed around 2 p.m.

“He's going back to the community,” she said. “His health is not  
necessarily that great so he may have a stop at the hospital first.”

Mr. Singh was in the hospital for eight hours Sunday night and  
supporters said they have letters from doctors at Surrey Memorial  
that say he's unfit for travel.

Earlier, Ms. Walia disputed the border services agency's suggestion  
that the crowd was a safety hazard, calling it a smear tactic.

“We are here as peaceful protesters. CBSA is welcome to go through  
the crowd. But they will have to answer to people's questions,” she  
said.

“They haven't been able to answer me or anyone else whether they  
believe this deportation is just. Their fear is not of violence,  
their fear is dealing with the legitimate concerns of people.”

She said the agency gave no timeline for further action.

“It's up to the government. The government has the ability to stop  
this deportation on a permanent basis if they don't want to keep  
playing this cat and mouse game.”

Within an hour of the announcement, the crowd was almost completely  
dispersed.

Swara Gill, head of the Kalgidhar Khalsa Darbar temple in Abbotsford  
where Mr. Singh had been staying, said the Khalsa Diwan Society in  
New Westminster, B.C., would be taking over Mr. Singh's care.

Mr. Singh came to Canada on a forged passport in 2003 but suffered a  
massive stroke three years later that left him a quadriplegic.

Last week the border services agency served Mr. Singh with papers  
ordering him to leave the country on Monday.

The exclusion order, which enforces an earlier deportation order,  
required the 48-year-old Punjabi man to report to the airport for a  
flight to India.

He is fighting to stay in Canada on humanitarian grounds because he  
fears he will not receive necessary medical care if he is returned to  
India, where he says that government has falsely accused him of  
having links to terrorism.

NDP MLA Raj Chouhan said deporting Mr. Singh would be inhuman.

“People are very angry,” Mr. Chouhan said. “They are very concerned  
about it.

“I caution this government if they don't resolve this issue to the  
satisfaction of the community, this government will pay a big price  
in the next election.”