“The fight is not over”: Deportation of Sikh students delayed

Hundreds of Indian overseas students – which includes a significant number of Sikhs – who were facing deportation after being victims of an immigration agency scam have won the right to stay in Canada, for now.

After hundreds took part in an 18-day 24-hour protest outside the Canadian Border Services Agency in Mississauga (Ontario), which was supported by Sikh orgs such as Khalsa Aid and the World Sikh Organization, Canadian immigration minister Sean Fraser announced (on 14^th June) that all deportations related to the issue would be postponed until further investigation.

With possibly up to 700+ students impacted and approximately 200+ facing near immediate deportation, once the issue came to light, a collective decision was made to organize a demonstration in the spirit of the fabled #FarmersProtest, which saw a protest camp set up around Delhi for a year until the Indian Govt rescinded contested exploitative laws being imposed on India’s agricultural sector.

The protest camp saw langar (Sikh communal kitchen practice) feeding attendees and Sikh prayers being held to provide spiritual sustenance to the protesters, whom braved perilous weather to remain steadfast in the demonstration, showing Canadian authorities that the community would not simply standby and allow the deportations.

With Canada profiting into the billions of the hundreds of thousands of students coming into the country, groups like the Naujawan Support Network felt it was unfair for the government to punish the students for being victims of a scam, which saw an Indian immigration agency fake university admission letters to get the students into Canada.

Learn more about this via journalist Angad Singh, for Vice News, who breaks down the profiteering and interviews one of the impacted students. A further report by Vice News details how the Sikh concept of morcha (protest) helped drive the protesters to such a victory. Read it here.

The morcha was partly led by the Naujawan Support Network, an Ontario based organization which is fast become an integral tool for Canada’s recent migrants, working on workers’ and student rights issues. The organization was created on the back of countless tales of exploitation facing new immigrants from employers and landlords.

In a statement on the victory of having the deportations delayed, the group were quick to outline “The fight is not over”, detailing ongoing concerns about Sean Fraser’s statement and the ongoing investigations into the issue (see images below).

For regular updates on this ongoing situation, follow Instagram.com/Stand_For_Student and Twitter.com/NsnPeel.