Singh will be deported, border agents are assured
IAN BAILEY, From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail. January 22, 2008 at 4:21 AM EST
VANCOUVER — Border agents in B.C. have been assured by their managers that Laibar Singh, a paralyzed refugee claimant from India, will be deported at some point, says the head of the national border-guards union. “It’s not a question of if, but when it’s going to be executed,” said Ron Moran, president of the Customs and Excise Union. “That’s what they have been told.” He was referring to a conversation yesterday with one of his union leaders in British Columbia, where some officers in the removals unit of the Canada Border Services Agency have expressed frustration with the way managers are handling Mr. Singh’s case. Federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, responding to union suggestions that the Singh case is causing a morale problem among border agents, congratulated officers yesterday for successfully completing 12,000 removal orders.
As people have likely heard by now, Mr. Laibar Singh was not deported on yesterday December 9th at 4:30 am and remains in sanctuary in Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in Surrey. The last minute notice of the deportation and the removal time of 4:30 am was a deliberate and under-handed attempt to thwart public outcry and support. At 4:00 am, approximately 300 supporters gathered to protest and bear witness to CBSA’s enforcement of a deportation in violation of sanctuary. In light of a major backlash for violating sanctuary and in the presence of hundreds of supporters, CBSA backed off from the deportation.
The Surrey Guru Nanak Gurudwara has made clear to CBSA that Laibar Singh is in sanctuary in their premises. In having decided to enter temple premises yesterday or any date in the future, CBSA is breaching a historic moral tradition of sanctuary. Sanctuary is an act of courage that faith communities take to protect the lives of those facing deportation in light of unjust government decisions.
