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Our deportee or your dough
Canadian authorities are giving supporters of failed refugee claimant Laibar Singh one more week to either hand him over or face forfeiture of their $50,000 bond.
The bond should technically have been forfeited Monday, as that was the agreed upon deadline for handing Singh over for deportation.
Singh’s supporters, who are sheltering the 48-year-old Punjabi in a Surrey gurdwara, had earlier requested authorities delay its forfeiture and allow the disabled Indian to stay in Metro Vancouver for one year more for “proper” recovery.
Singh, who came to Canada on a fake passport in 2003 and later exhausted all legal avenues to seek refugee status even as he became paralysed in 2006, was ordered deported last July.
But he was whisked away from hospital by his supporters and given sanctuary before the police could deport him.
After three reprieves of 60 days each, another attempt was made by the CBSA to put him on a plane to India on Dec 10. His supporters again thwarted it with a blockade at Vancouver airport. Only on a bond guarantee of $50,000 was Singh allowed to stay.
Balwant Gill, president of Surrey Guru Nanak Sikh Temple where Singh is currently staying, told IANS that they sent a letter to the CBSA Monday, seeking one year’s stay in Canada for the disabled man.
“They have given us just seven days,” said Gill. “We will see when March 10 comes.”
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Sun quoted authorities as saying that they had already spent about $500,000 on his medical care.
This amount does not include more than $60,000 spent on the three failed deportation bids.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has rejected the so-called sanctuary granted to Singh, saying he will be deported at all costs.
In other developments, some of Singh’s supporters appear to have flip-flopped on his deportation.
Harpal Singh Nagra, president of the South Asian Human Rights group that was in the forefront of fight for blocking Singh’s deportation, said recently: “Though the CBSA told us last week that they will not enter the Sikh temple, I would now prefer that Singh should go back to India.”
He said: “Singh himself wants to go back if he is guaranteed that he will get the money for his medical treatment in India. We will raise money for him. I think he can get good treatment in India.”
Earlier, the Indo-Asian community had promised to pick up his pending medical bills to the tune of $450,000, and pay $150,000 annually for his upkeep.
But Singh said recently that he was “distraught” to hear that his former key backer now wanted him deported.
“I want to stay here because I am improving in my health,” said Singh.
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