By Gurmukh Singh, IANS
Toronto : Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has blasted Indo-Canadian supporters for resisting deportation of failed refugee claimant Laibar Singh.
Twice they have stopped police attempts to deport Singh who entered Canada on a false passport five years ago and is currently sheltering in a Surrey gurudwara (Sikh temple) after exhausting all legal avenues.
The first attempt to deport him failed Dec 10 when over 2,000 supporters blocked police access to him.
They foiled another attempt last Wednesday when they blocked police entry to the gurudwara. whose management had promised to cooperate in Laibar Singh’s deportation.
Stung by their non-cooperation, the minister said Singh might be in a mall or a gurudwara; he was not entitled to stay in Canada any more and will be deported.
Hitting out at the gurudwara management for sheltering Singh, he said: “There are a few and there are rare circumstances across the country where places of worship are used as sanctuary. There is no law that actually provides for that.
“When people are … defying a removal order – whether they are taking refuge in a place of worship or whether they are taking refuge in a mall – they are in defiance of the rule of law.”
Urging the Indo-Canadians to cooperate in Singh’s removal, the minister said, “I would encourage those who are supporting somebody at a time like this to remember that those representatives gave their word and they asked for a time of reconsideration, and then the reconsiderations were given and at the risk of them being seen as people who do not keep their word, I would hope that they would respect that. We believe in the rule of law in our country.”
He said over 12,000 illegal people were being removed from Canada each year, and the Canadian Border Security Agency was delaying this case only because they didn’t want to hurt the sentiments of Sikhs by entering the gurudwara.
Meanwhile, Gulzar Cheema, a doctor who examines Singh regularly, has come under fire for breaking patient confidentiality after he had said Singh could travel to India under medical support.
Singh’s supporters said it was unethical on the part of Cheema to speak publicly about his health.
Singh was paralysed in 2006 and his supporters say he should not be deported, as he will not get proper medical care in India.