Indian family deported from Canada after asylum claim fails: ‘When Canada needed Harish, he was essential’

Family of Harish, Indian truck driver in Canada’s Quebec, is deported to India as their asulym claim was rejected.

An Indian family that spent eight years building a life in Quebec has returned to India after Canadian authorities rejected its refugee claim and their attempt to remain in the country on humanitarian grounds.The Kumar family — Harish Kumar, his wife Sonika, and their two childrenm Goulash and Japesh — arrived in Canada in April 2018 and sought asylum after Harish Kumar said he had left India because he believed his life was at risk. After years of legal proceedings, the family was ordered to leave Canada and boarded a flight to India on September 7.For Kumar’s two sons, the removal has meant leaving behind the only home they remember.“I grew up here,” 14-year-old Japesh Kumar told CTV News before the family’s departure. “I have friends here … in India, I have nothing.”His 12-year-old brother, Gouresh, also spent most of his childhood in Quebec and now faces the prospect of starting over in a country he barely knows.The family was informed on August 4 that its refugee claim had been refused and that it would have to leave Canada by September 7. Kumar said his wife was detained by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) the previous week.Immigrant Workers Center, an organization that fights for the rights of immigrants, condemned the deportation and said Harish worked as a truck driver and continued transporting goods during the Covid pandemic. “When the Canadian economy needed their labor, they were called “essential workers.” Once the crisis ended, however, years of work, taxes, and contributions to their community did not protect them from deportation. This is the cruelty at the heart of the immigration system: it benefits from migrant labor while treating migrants’ lives as temporary and disposable,” the organization said.Mostafa Henaway of the Immigrant Workers Centre said removing the children from Quebec after years of schooling and growing up in the province would have a significant impact on them. “I don’t think it sends a very strong signal about our values being very different than our neighbours down south in this current climate,” said Henaway.

Why was the family removed?

Canadian immigration authorities said removal decisions are not taken lightly and that people are removed only after legal avenues capable of stopping or delaying removal have been exhausted.The CBSA said individuals facing removal may, depending on their circumstances, have access to appeals before the Immigration and Refugee Board, judicial review applications before the Federal Court and pre-removal risk assessments.Under Section 48 of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, once a removal order becomes enforceable, CBSA is required to remove the individual “as soon as possible”.For the Kumar family, the process stretched across eight years before ending with their return to India.

What happened in India?

When Harish came to Canada, he said he had to flee India after he was arrested and mistreated by police after he “refused to give money to people associated with political groups.” According to a Change.org petition that was started before the family’s deportation, Harish owned a small grocery store in Goraya City, Punjab. He was approached for money for an election campaign.“Two men arrived at his store on a motorcycle, apparently presenting themselves as customers purchasing supplies for a wedding. After leaving the store, they positioned their motorcycle across from the shop. He says that police officers subsequently arrived with individuals he believed were connected to political groups and accused him of illegally parking the motorcycle…police claimed to have found questionable materials on the motorcycle and arrested him. From August 12 to August 16, 2017, he (Harish) reports that he was held in custody, with his hands bound behind his back, and repeatedly kicked, pulled to the ground, and beaten with a stick,” the campaign statement read.