Elderly couple living in Montreal face deportation to India

Rajvinder Kaur and Randhir Singh, 70 and 79 years old, face deportation to India in five days. The couple has lived in Canada since 2015, but fear for their safety as Sikhs, if they return to their native Punjab region in northern India.

“They want to stay here. They want to stop the deportation order,” said Arvinder Rai, a translator for the elderly couple.

On Monday, family members, friends and supporters rallied outside federal immigration minister Marc Miller’s office in Montreal. They want the minister to extend their stay in Canada until their application for permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds is studied. Their initial refugee claim was refused.

“What they’re supposed to consider when they look on the humanitarian applications, what would be the impact on these people if they were deported, said Stewart Istvanffy,

the human rights lawyer for Kaur and Singh, adding, “and they’re supposed to look at the psychological reports that we have submitted, they’re supposed to look at the question of post-traumatic stress disorder. And in this case, this has been entirely ignored.”

Solidarity Across Borders, a group supporting the couple, say the elderly couple’s refugee claim was refused by Canada because they were told they could move to another state. However, they say that the couple has tried to relocate, but have been followed by security police of the ruling party. 

“They face almost certain arbitrary detention and probable torture if they were to go back to India earlier this year,” added Istvanffy.

The couple live in Parc Extension and one community group there says they have noticed a recent trend in deportations in the neighbourhood.

“I think what a lot of people think of Park X these days, they think of gentrification, of people being forced out by rising rents, by evictions. And what we’re seeing is that a lot of people are also being forced out by deportations, too,” said Amy Darwish, a coordinator for the Comité d’action de Parc-Extension (CAPE).

CityNews Montreal reached to Immigration Canada for comment, but did not hear back in time for air.

“They are very depressed when they said that they don’t know they will leave or they will die when they will go to back to India, it is uncertain about their life,” stated Rai.