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Laibar Singh
Watch the video (Courtesy of our comrades at Stolen From Africa): Toronto J26 Action Video On Saturday, January 26th actions in Mississauga, Ontario took place at the Greater Toronto Enforcement Centre (the enforcement arm of Citizenship and Immigration Canada) as part of an action in solidarity with two men in sanctuary in Vancouver and Montreal. Over 100 demonstrators from Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, London and other cities in southwestern Ontario organized and mobilized to deliver written statements in solidarity with Laibar Singh and Abdel Kader Belaouni and calling on STATUS FOR ALL! At 10:30am on Saturday morning, a bus load of demonstrators coming from downtown Toronto linked up with dozens of members of the Sikh community who came prepared with drums, a food truck and signs reading "End State Racism" and "No One Is Illegal". Demonstrators rallied outside of the Greater Toronto Enforcement Centre on Airport Road before marching to the building in an attempt to deliver the letters of support to the GTEC officials. GTEC's response...to go on lockdown....unwilling to even allow a small delegation to deliver the letters staff and security at the GTEC office locked the doors and barricaded the entrances in an effort to shut out the people seeking justice for Mr. Singh and Mr. Belaouni. Chants of "Let them Stay" and "Status for All" flooded the building and could be heard from miles away! Gurratan Singh Dhaliwal from the Sikh Activist Network reminded the crowd that "this isn't just about Laiber Singh and Abdel Kader Belaouni, but all people living here without status! We demand status for all!" The actions were organized as part of National Days of Action called in Montreal and Vancouver in solidarity with Abdel Kader Belaouni and Laibar Singh respectively. As immigration enforcement increases its targetting of Laibar Singh and Abdel-Kader Belaouni, people across Canada are demonstrating in the thousands to demand justice for non-status people living in sanctuary, and to demand status for all!
CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO - More than 30 Toronto supporters of a paralyzed failed refugee claimant whom Canadian officials have twice tried to deport gathered Friday to call on Ottawa to allow Laibar Singh to remain in the country. The group, which gathered at a federal government office, said Singh should be allowed to stay in Canada on compassionate and humanitarian grounds. "There is no greater example when humanitarian and compassionate grounds should be exercised when we have an individual who is now, for all intents and purposes, almost completely physically disabled," said Jagneet Singh Dhaliwal of the Sikh Lawyers Association. Officials have twice attempted to deport Singh to India, only to be thwarted by his supporters. Dhaliwal said he's "appalled" that government agents tried early Wednesday morning to enter a Sikh temple in suburban Vancouver to remove Singh. Hundreds of supporters stopped the removal by blocking the entrance to the temple where Singh had been granted sanctuary. While it may not be a legal issue, there are "serious implications" when government agents try to enter places of worship to remove those seeking sanctuary, Dhaliwal said. "If the government is willing to invade and threaten and violate someone when they're at their most vulnerable ... it speaks to how far gone the Canadian government has fallen," he said. Avneet Dhanoa, a 21-year-old university student who attended the protest, called the incident at the temple "frightening." "It's scary because it makes me wonder ... if it's going to happen at a gurudwara (Sikh temple), what next?" she said. There may be a valid deportation order for Singh, but officials should consider other aspects of the case and understand that asylum seekers often use false documents to get into the country, Dhanoa said.
UPDATE! URGENT ACTION REQUIRED TO STOP DEPORTATION! METRO VANCOUVER - An attempt to deport a paralysed man back to India on International Human Rights Day fell apart after a grass-roots protest at Vancouver International Airport Monday literally halted traffic and prevented border and immigration agents from taking custody of him. By mid-afternoon the Canada Border Services Agency halted its plan to deport Laibar Singh after it concluded that it would be too risky for its agents to walk out to a waiting taxi in which the elderly man was sitting. Between them and the curb were as many as 2,000 protesters, many of them members of an Abbotsford-area Sikh temple that had rallied in support. "For safety and security reasons Mr. Singh's removal has been delayed," Derek Mellon, a CBSA spokesman said, adding that the agency wouldn't discuss publicly any future attempts it may make to remove him. Singh's reprieve became known a couple hours before, after CBSA officials told Vancouver International Airport's operations centre that they'd bent to the will of protesters and temporarily lifted the deportation order. The decision was made shortly before a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong was supposed to take off with Singh on board. But in effect, Singh's removal was all but impossible after his taxi was surrounded by people who refused to let him be taken into YVR's international terminal. CBSA told leaders of the protest that they wouldn't go out to the taxi and retrieve Singh because they believed people would get violent, according to one of the leaders.  |
No One is Illegal (Toronto) is a group of immigrants, refugees and allies who fight for the rights of all migrants to live with dignity and respect.
We believe that granting citizenship to a privileged few is part of a racist immigration and border policies designed to exploit and marginalize migrants. We work to oppose these policies, as well as the international economic policies that create the conditions of poverty and war that force migration. At the same time, it is part of our ongoing work to support and build alliances with Indigenous peoples in their fight against colonialism, displacement and the ongoing occupation of their land. WE DEMAND:
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