The Laibar Singh contest

You may have heard the shocking story of a Sikh man who has been ordered deported and refuses to do so, and now has thousands of people illegally blocking border officials from being able to carry out the deportation.

Singh has children back in India that are in their teens and 20s. He came to Canada on a false passport in 2003 and claimed he had been falsely accused of being a member of the terrorist Khalistan Commando Force.

He suffered a debilitating aneurysm that left him a quadriplegic in 2006.

The 48-year-old lost his refugee claim and all subsequent appeals and was ordered deported last June.

On the eve of a July removal date, supporters grabbed him from Vancouver's George Pearson long-term care facility and took him to Abbotsford's Kalgidhar Darbar temple, where he remained until he was transported to the airport last month.

Okay, that's all fine and good. Now both the CBC and CTV have comment sections on their segments. Bearing in mind that CTV's anti-Harper stance is well known, it is still a private broadcaster with the audience to match.

So with your intimate knowledge of CTV and CBC's audience base, try to guess which website's viewers posted the following comments to this story:

There is nothing illegal about the way that Mr. Singh came to Canada - it is a widely-used and recognized practice to travel with falsified documents as a refugee and obviously often necessary if you are fleeing unstable and unsafe conditions. The amount of support that Mr. Singh has received in Vancouver and beyond has been an admirable challenge to Canada's repressive immigration laws. He should be allowed to stay and be granted permanent residency immediately.

You promote hate, racism and false information.I can see most people don't know about Refugee issues. Illegal? Oh, boy, its so ridiculous. By the way, you are the ones who are living in a stolen land. Thanks to your news distortion most of these readers say "Yes" to this deportation. What a shame on you!

I do agree with all of those who say that the deportation order should be followed. However, sanctuary is a very old legal tradition, that is still part of the common law today, and if the CBSA were to breach sanctuary, they would be in all kinds of legal hot water, which would not be worth it for one illegal immigrant

Those supporters sicken me. It's like saying, "Welcome to Canada where anything and everything is legal".

This can only encourage more illegal foreigners to come here. So he got a stroke, does that mean our taxes and health care need to pay for this person?????

Send him home and have his country pay for his mistakes and deal with him.

Not only should he be deported, but anyone who attempts to block the deportation should be charged with aiding a criminal. Canadians are sick of being patsies to tribal politics and political correctness. I'm sure if this guy was white, he would already be deported.

There seems to be some confusion that there is some form of sanctuary from the law in a church/temple or other place of worship.

Like the "I get one free phone call on arrest" misconception (you have no such right in Canada) THERE IS NO SUCH THING as church sanctuary in Canadian common law statute.

There are however tons of laws about avoiding deportation and for obstructing the police. Why are these not being enforced?

To reiterate: Laibar Singh came to Canada legally. He became 'illegal' when his application for refugee status was rejected. The grounds for that rejection (lack of community support) are being contested by tens of thousands of people in Laibar's community.

I THINK HE SHOULD REMAIN IN CANADA THEREFORE LET HIM LIVE IN PEACE WHERE IS THE REMORSE AND PEACE IN THIS COUNTRY AND WHY WASTE TAX PAYERS MONEY GETTING HIM HERE AND THEN SENDING HIM BACK TO INDIA HE IS A PARALYZED ELDER REFUGEE COME WHERE IS THE RESPECT IN CANADA

There is no debate - he entered Canada illegally using fraudulant means. A forged passport and a bogus refugee claim?? Give me a break. Put him on the first plane out of here.. and as for the 'protesters' that are preventing the rule of law.. if they don't obey the laws of the land then throw them on the plane as well!

Canada has a long history of opening its border to people seeking refuge, people who has suffered repression and their lives are threatened by dictatorial and murderer regimes on the world.

Unfortunately some people lives in ignorance, and believe some media’s reports with inaccurate notions like that Mr. Singh entered Canada illegally. If they bother to study immigration laws they will find that a refugee claimant has the right to enter with false documents. The common sense will make them understand that a person who is escaping murder and repression has to hide their real identity until they are safe.

I have read the comments posted here in regard the case of Mr. Laibar Singh, and I see that some people lives with the notion that skin colour matter, they forget that this hate among people because of their skin colour has brought many of the catastrophes in the world like the Holocaust in the time of the Nazis in Germany. It is ignorance and only ignorance that makes people to differentiate themselves from others, we are all humans. Even those who has power and make every effort to maintain the rest of us separated, so they can control us, and make whatever they like with our lives and our future. Like destroying the world, destroying the earth and all the living beings. Wake up people; it is time to fight together for our survival in this planet and for our rights in every corner of this world. Learn to be compassionate with people in need instead of living in hate. Learn how you can help to make every human being live with dignity including yourself, learn how you can help to fight against all inequalities.

Start with small battles like this one to help a person in need to stay in Canada where he can live in dignity as every person deserves.

Since Mr. Singh exhausted all his legal options, Canada must continue to try deporting him. Others will seek sanctuary in places of worship to avoid being deported and live there until granted citizenship on humanitarian reasons. Can you imagine all places of worship becoming full-time sanctuaries, instead being used for their original purpose? If Mr. Singh's supporters wish him to remain in Canada, then I suggest he continues to stay in sanctuary with his supporters taking care of him physically and financially forever, but without being granted citizenship. If he returns to India with his supporters paying for his medical expenses, they will get better value for their money and he is able to see his kids and grandkids. By letting him stay legally, Mr. Singh's entire costs (living, health & pension) would transfer to all Canadians and all his family will be able to immigrate to Canada. Mr. Singh's supporters should realize that not a majority nor all Canadians support Mr. Singh. Although Mr. Suleman thinks it's a difficult public policy debate, it merely continues to be a situation of holding Canada hostage to Mr. Singh and his supporters' demands until they are met. Canada can not allow bullies to succeed by agreeing to their wishes.

Who is running Canada? If a NON minority group blocked the road to YVR there would have been arrests. This person is here illegally. Return him to India so he can clear his name and then apply to come to Canada as per Canadian law. If these people are contiually allowed to act outside the law where will it stop? This is Canada like it and obey or leave it.

This individual came to Canada ILLEGALLY, using a forged passport and worked in this country ILLEGALLY until his stroke.

Now he wants leniency, when all applications have been denied, on "humanitarian grounds".

NO I say. He failed to come to Canada legally.

He used a forged passport (a criminal offense in any country), worked illegally while in Canada (also a prosecutable offense) and generally threw Canada the "bird" when it came to being here legally.

His stroke notwithstanding, he has NO right to be here, period. He needs to go back where he came from and apply like everyone else.

Reward his illegal activities because he had a stroke and every tom, dick and harry will be having medical ailments galore, conveniently in time for immigration hearings (particularly if they are here illegally).

Deport him NOW.

Let him stay, what kind of medical help and assistance would he get in India. Show some compassion.

Any person that comes to Canada that has a criminal record, should be automatically sent back to there native country. People come to Canada, knowing Canada is soft on Refugees. These people should be aware that Canada is not a safe haven for criminals. Our court system is clogged with Refugee claims from Bogus refugees. Who pays for all these delays, we the taxpayers of this country, not the people that abuse our system for their benefit. If we illegaly entered another country illegally, we would most likely be booted out quicker then we came in. The costs of healthcare, lawyers for this indivual must be staggering. Also, what do refugee mean, a person from another country thas was displaced for some reason ?
Any person from countries that might have laws that Canada does not have(ex, Death Penalty) should not be considered a refugee.
It is time the Canadian Government take control of unwanted refugees and ship them out ASAP. Do not process them through the court system,, this is only a delay tactic. That costs me in the long run more money. Ship this guy and many others like him, back to their own Country, and tell them they are not wanted.

My son-in-law is from the UK, he has been trying to get "status" to stay in Canada for approx 8 years now. He has passed the 1st phase and is ok until Aug.08, after that, who knows?? He as a University Degree and is working in a full time position, paying goods and services and all of the necessary taxes. Seems like if you take the legitimate route, you get penalized. If this individual is in Canada illegally, he should be deported.

Nothing in this article indicated any attempt to enter Canada legally that had been denied; he entered illegally. He subsequently had a stroke, which places him in a sympathetic position. Unfortunately, hundreds of millions in the world are also in sympathetic positions; based on your logic, Canada should not discriminate against these people merely because they did not get an opportunity to also enter Canada illegally. What message does this send to the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding persons following rules, or acting as guarantors for immigrants? These rules and laws, albeit imperfect, were set in place to attempt to ensure the future viability of Canada. I agree there's always exceptions to rules, but this case does not merit such. Of course I feel sorry for Mr Singh's situation, but Canada's mission in the world is not to provide for anyone who happens to cross our borders by any means. Canada is a welcoming and moderate presence in a world not known for either. However our resources and our patience are not infinite.

Fox News stated that this gentleman attempted entry into Canada "legally" 2 times prior and was denied. There must have been a good reason for it? This is a very unsettling situation...this man is ill, but he also lied to get into Canada. I hope that it works out for the best....

[ha ha, I won't even bother making you guess on this one. How many CBC viewers would ever quote FOX News? This is from the CTV article. -ed]

It seems sad that we still think of immigrants as outsiders when the system that is in place favours those who have money and contacts to properly navigate the immgration system. Many immigrants (who have not committed crimes) who need to come to a safer country with more opportunities are denied when they try the "legal" route.

If canadian law has found that he should be deported,then he should be deported. If his friends/community/protestors are breaking the law,they should be prosecuted to the full extentof our laws.
On the other hand, we could just give him a government job and everybodies happy. Perhaps in imigration. The tax payers pay either way.

Any person that comes to Canada that has a criminal record, should be automatically sent back to there native country. People come to Canada, knowing Canada is soft on Refugees. These people should be aware that Canada is not a safe haven for criminals. Our court system is clogged with Refugee claims from Bogus refugees. Who pays for all these delays, we the taxpayers of this country, not the people that abuse our system for their benefit. If we illegaly entered another country illegally, we would most likely be booted out quicker then we came in. The costs of healthcare, lawyers for this indivual must be staggering. Also, what do refugee mean, a person from another country thas was displaced for some reason ?
Any person from countries that might have laws that Canada does not have(ex, Death Penalty) should not be considered a refugee.
It is time the Canadian Government take control of unwanted refugees and ship them out ASAP. Do not process them through the court system,, this is only a delay tactic. That costs me in the long run more money. Ship this guy and many others like him, back to their own Country, and tell them they are not wanted.

I'm concerned about the ignorance shown in much of the commentary on this case, including from professional journalists.

Many if not most legitimate refugee claimants arrive in Canada with false documents out of necessity-- our asylum system recognizes this reality and Mr. Singh Declared his documents when he claimed refugee status. This does not make his presence in Canada "illegal"

Mr. Singh has sought and received sanctuary because our refugee system does not grant any means to appeal it's decisions. It should not be up to the media to evaluate the merits of Mr. Singhs case, or any other asylum claim. If our refugee system offered the means to appeal that is granted in our criminal justice system, religious communities would not be forced to offer sanctuary. I don't recall the same hostility towards refugee claimants seeking sanctuary in Christian churches. The vitriol directed at Mr. Singh and his supporters bespeaks deep seated racism and hate.

The arguments about whether he's illegal or not are not really germaine to this discussion: his status has already been decided by a court, he's appealed and lost; the decision of the court was that he be deported. What really troubles me is that such an order can be derailed by a mob of his supporters, not once but three times. Mob rule: that's scary.

Thanks Keya, for your comments for they are very real for the average middle class people from eastern countries. This man will die if sent back to india - probably on the street with the rats. We selfish Canadians should look at our own individual heritage and see how difficult our grand parents had it coming here. You would think in the year 2008 we would have more compassion in our society. A paraplegic - we have many, is one more really going to put our country in hardship...for we only die on the streets of Canada because of our own social dysfunctions.

The vast majority of the comments in reference to Laibar Singh situation make me very sad. It seems that many of you have a very uncompassionate and volatile perspective. Who are we to decide what this man needs to be safe. If people had the means necessary to live safely then people would not attempt to find refuge in Canada. I am baffled as to why so many Canadians even care if someone finds refuge in Canada. Is it because this man is not white? Is it the clothes he wears? Come on people let's provide the same opportunities that many of us were given.

As a women of European descent who's ancestors came here and ripped off Aboriginal people of their land and resources the least we can do to start making amends is allow people a safe place to find refuge when they tell us the need it.