By Gurmukh Singh, IANS
Vancouver : Indo-Canadian rights groups here have denied media reports that they have abandoned failed refugee claimant Laibar Singh and threatened to take legal action against some section of the media if they persist with their “misinformation campaign”.
To clarify their stand and demonstrate to the media that Singh continues to enjoy full support from the whole South Asian community and many white mainstream organisations, the rights groups held a press conference Saturday.
A widower from Punjab, Singh had entered Canada on a fake passport in 2003. Even as he filed for refugee status, he was paralysed last year and is bed-ridden and under the care a Surrey gurdwara.
After he lost his case, Singh was ordered deportation last June. But a day before, he was whisked from hospital to a gurdwara by his supporters. He got two reprieves of 60 days each even as his lawyer filed fresh pleas on humanitarian grounds.
When he was about to be deported again Dec 10, his supporters staged a massive demonstration in front of the Vancouver airport stopping the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA) from putting him on a flight back to India.
When media persons highlighted the fact that Singh had entered Canada on a fake passport, his supporters said there was nothing illegal in it as Canadian and UN laws allowed entry to refugees without valid papers.
Annoyed by what they termed biased reporting by the mainstream media, Singh’s supporters said this was causing misconceptions in the mainstream community about this case.
Speaking to IANS, Harjap Grewal, spokesman of organisations supporting Singh’s case, said, “We are planning legal action against some section of the media as they persist with their misinformation campaign. We quoted the law to tell them that there was nothing illegal in Singh’s entry on fake passport, but the media is not willing to listen. It is one of the scandalous approaches that the Canadian media has taken in recent times.”
He claimed that the law was on their side as section 178 of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act recognises that refugee claimants are able to travel with falsified documents, clearly recognising it as a legal act on the part of refugees.
“Clearly, it is not considered an illegal way to enter the country,” Grewal said.
Quoting Janet Cleveland, Canada Research Chair in International Migration Law, he said, “The fact that Singh used false documents to enter Canada and to claim refugee status cannot be held against him, as is stated expressly in the Geneva Convention and other instruments of international and Canadian Law. I would like to reiterate that I support Singh’s right to stay in Canada where he can receive the care he needs to live in dignity.”
The organisers of the press conference claimed that there was drop in support for Singh, citing the names of the various organisations, which continued to back his cause.
“In addition to 13 gurdwaras with thousands of members, and several non-faith-based South Asian groups, Singh enjoys support from major bodies such as the Council of Canadians (the largest citizens’ organisation in Canada), the League of Rights and Liberties of Quebec, the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Postal Workers’ Union, the British Columbia Hospital Employees’ Union, British Columbia Coalition of People with Disabilities and the Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society,” they told IANS.