Green Party leader asks federal ministers to delay climate activist's looming deportation

Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is making a public appeal to the federal government to further delay deportation of climate activist Zain Haq. 

Deporting Haq for mischief convictions stemming from non-violent civil disobedience in a bid to save the planet is an overzealous response, May said. It will alarm many Canadians worried about a rising tide of climate denialism, racism and hostility to immigration, nationally and south of the border, especially with U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration today, said May.

If Haq, 24, is expelled to Pakistan on Jan. 25 as planned, Canada would become the first country in the world to deport a peaceful climate protester, said May, who is B.C. MP for Saanich—Gulf Islands.

“I think it's important for Canadians to know we're a country that will embrace and defend the free speech rights of someone who doesn't yet have citizenship, but is part of our community,” said May, at a press conference outside the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) offices in Vancouver on Monday. 

A former international student at Simon Fraser University who arrived in Canada in 2019, Haq was involved in old growth and climate protests that drew widespread attention for disrupting traffic in the Lower Mainland. Haq pleaded guilty to five charges of mischief and was sentenced to seven days in jail along with other conditions in July 2023. 

Haq is facing the stress of deportation and forced separation from Sophie Papp, his Canadian wife of nearly two years, due to an apparent “bureaucratic snafu” by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), said May.

Haq had an earlier deportation order stayed in April 2024 after Immigration Minister Marc Miller intervened to issue a six-month temporary resident permit. The permit was issued to allow Haq to remain in Canada while IRCC continued to process his spousal sponsorship application for permanent residence submitted 20 months ago, Papp told Canada’s National Observer. 

The couple sent in the papers to renew his temporary permit in October before the old one expired, Papp said, but the IRCC can’t find her husband’s application despite a courier receipt that shows it was delivered to the correct address. Now, CBSA has opted to speedily deport Haq on the basis that his permit has expired. 

If her husband is deported to Pakistan, Papp said their current spousal application will be thrown out, and they would have to start an out-of-country residency application, which can take more than two years. And that’s if his deportation doesn’t make him ineligible for re-entry to Canada, she added. 

“It's so distressing, and I'm really scared,” Papp said, noting the couple is only looking to delay the deportation order until a decision on their permanent residence application is finalized. 

“It feels like I have to choose between living and making a life with my partner and staying in my home [country], and it’s an awful position to be in.” 

The couple’s immigration lawyer Randall Cohn stressed his client — who pleaded to his charges and completed his sentence with no issues — in no way meets the legal threshold for serious criminality that merits expulsion from Canada. 

Nothing about Haq’s situation or activities has changed since he was issued the last temporary permit, he said.

“Even the CBSA officer who is charged with enforcing his removal has explicitly acknowledged that he poses no threat to public safety,” Cohn stressed. 

CBSA has the legal discretion to delay and prioritize what deportation orders it pursues, Cohen said, adding the federal agency is under-resourced and faces a significant backlog of orders that are likely more serious.

The loss of Haq’s temporary permit application, the failure of IRCC to remedy or address the mistake, the zeal with which CBSA is pursuing his client’s deportation mean the couple and MP May are forced to plead with Minister Miller to intercede again, despite the fact that Parliament has been prorogued, and the federal cabinet is focusing all its attention on Trump’s tariff threats. 

Haq concedes that while he was convicted for mischief for his climate activism, it is not different to the charges many Canadians face when taking part in peaceful protest activities. 

“Even if people find my past actions objectionable, the bottom line is Sophie and I have been married for almost two years, and I’ve lived in Canada for my entire adult life,” he said. 

“My actions were not violent and not anti-social in their intention, and I’ve served the entirety of the sentence imposed upon me by a provincial court judge.” 

Even the sentencing judge told him he could be a “catalyst for positive change, given that he does so through legitimate means,” Haq added. 

The consequences of a deportation order for Haq and his wife, and the separation from family and community support are disproportionate to the offenses committed and problematic from a democratic standpoint, regardless of nationality, May said. 

“Certainly, I've been arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience, but I was already a Canadian citizen, and I was already a member of Parliament, but there are very large life consequences in Zain’s case.” 

Minister Miller has already acted once to stop Haq’s previous deportation and his actions shouldn’t be undermined by the CBSA and IRCC, which are jeopardizing Haq’s future again, she said. 

The rigidity of CBSA, backlogs and lack of accountability by IRCC, and prejudice are playing a role in the unnecessary enforcement of the deportation order, Cohen said. 

“It’s all of the above,” Cohen said. “This all could have been avoided.” 

It’s vital not to give in to despair with the rising wave of intolerance for “fairness and equity” and misinformation about the climate crisis currently rippling across the world, May said, especially for Canada’s political discourse in the run-up to the pending election. 

“If [Haq] were deported, it would feed into the cynicism people have [for politics],” May said. 

“The logical conclusion is to think the game is rigged against a young man of colour, the game is rigged against immigrants, and the game is rigged against climate activists."

However, May is hopeful Minister Miller and the new Public Safety Minister David McGuinty will act to prevent Haq’s looming deportation and send a positive message about Canadian values. 

“This is a good time for Canadians to stand up and say this is the kind of country that embraces a young man of conscience,” May said.

That doesn’t mean advocating against “taking your lumps” for acts of peaceful civil disobedience, including fines or jail time, but excessive penalties violate the spirit of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, May stressed. 

“Deportation is a bridge too far and too heavy a consequence for someone who's doing something that I believe they have a right to do living in Canada.” 

Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer