After 8 years in Canada, Punjab family deported to India as asylum, humanitarian pleas fail

The Kumar family — Harish Kumar, his wife Sonika and their two sons, Japesh and Goulash — arrived in Canada in April 2018.

Harish said he had left India after fearing for his safety and subsequently sought asylum in Canada.

After years of legal proceedings, the family was ordered to leave the country. They boarded a flight to India on September 7, bringing an eight-year chapter in Quebec to an end.

'I grew up here'

The deportation has been particularly difficult for the couple's two sons, who spent most of their childhood in Quebec.

Fourteen-year-old Japesh told CTV News before the family's departure that Canada was the only home he had known for much of his life.

“I grew up here,” he said. “I have friends here ... in India, I have nothing.”

His 12-year-old brother, Goulash, also spent most of his childhood in Quebec.

He now has to begin again in India, a country he has little personal experience of after growing up in Canada.

The family was informed on August 4 that its refugee claim had been rejected and that it would have to leave Canada by September 7.

Harish said his wife was detained by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) the previous week.

Immigrant group condemns deportation

The Immigrant Workers Centre, an organisation that advocates for immigrant rights, criticised the family's removal.

The organisation said Harish had worked as a truck driver in Canada and continued transporting goods during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many workers were classified as essential.

“When the Canadian economy needed their labour, 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,” the organisation said.

“This is the cruelty at the heart of the immigration system: it benefits from migrant labour while treating migrants’ lives as temporary and disposable,” it added.

Mostafa Henaway of the Immigrant Workers Centre also highlighted the impact of removing children who had spent years attending school and growing up in Quebec.

“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,” Henaway said.

Why was Kumar family removed?

Canadian immigration authorities said removal decisions are made only after applicable legal avenues capable of stopping or delaying deportation have been exhausted.

The CBSA said people facing removal may, depending on their individual circumstances, have access to several legal options.

These can include appeals before the Immigration and Refugee Board, applications for judicial review before the Federal Court and pre-removal risk assessments.

Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act also sets out the process once a removal order becomes enforceable.

Under Section 48 of the Act, the CBSA is required to enforce such an order “as soon as possible”.

In the Kumar family's case, the immigration process continued for eight years before ultimately ending with their removal to India.

Harish's account of events in India

Harish has said he came to Canada after facing trouble in India, where he claimed he was arrested and mistreated by police after refusing to provide money to people associated with political groups.

According to a Change.org petition launched before the family's deportation, Harish had operated a small grocery shop in Goraya City, Punjab.

The petition alleged that he was approached for money linked to an election campaign.

It said two men arrived at his shop on a motorcycle and appeared to be customers purchasing supplies for a wedding.

According to the campaign statement, the men later positioned their motorcycle across from the shop.

Police subsequently arrived with individuals whom Harish believed were associated with political groups and accused him of illegally parking the motorcycle.

The petition alleged that police claimed to have found suspicious material on the motorcycle and arrested Harish.

It further stated that he was held in custody from August 12 to August 16, 2017, and alleged that his hands were bound behind his back and that he was repeatedly kicked, pulled to the ground and beaten with a stick.

The allegations formed part of the family's account of why Harish left India and sought protection in Canada.