Deportation of paralyzed Indian stayed after protest at Vancouver airport

Richmond, BC: 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.
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.
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.
10/11/07 Canadian Press/Globe and Mail, Canada

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Categories: Airports Dec 2007, Foreign Dec 2007