A BC student activist has been granted a last-ditch reprieve from an undisclosed Liberal cabinet minister to stay deportation to his native Pakistan for defying court orders to refrain from protesting at multiple sites in the Lower Mainland.It comes after a federal court judge last week denied an application on compassionate grounds from Mohammed Zain Haq, 23, for breaching the terms of his student visa.Since arriving in Canada in 2019, Haq had been arrested no less than 10 times on public mischief charges related to protests across the Lower Mainland, including a blockade of the Trans Mountain pipeline terminal in Burnaby..“Civil disobedience has been an essential part of many social change movements, but it must disrupt if it is to be effective. It is not our purpose to disrupt. Our purpose is to create a profile so large that it cannot be ignored,”Mohammed Zain Haq.Haq, who co-founded the group Save Old Growth at Simon Fraser University (SFU), caught the attention of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) who revoked his study permit in 2022 while protesting and speaking to the press about Canada’s climate policy after promising police not to return to a site he had been forcibly removed from — including the Vancouver International Airport, one of the nation’s busiest.“Civil disobedience has been an essential part of many social change movements, but it must disrupt if it is to be effective. It is not our purpose to disrupt. Our purpose is to create a profile so large that it cannot be ignored,” Haq said. That’s despite the fact he isn’t a Canadian citizen. In July, 2023 he was sentenced to seven days in prison, 60 days house arrest and 75 hours of community service. .“His conduct speaks to an arrogance of his ideals at the expense of the democratic process, and pro-social dialogue,” Judge Reginald Harris.In court proceedings, Judge Reginald Harris denied he was being convicted for peaceful protest. “His conduct speaks to an arrogance of his ideals at the expense of the democratic process and pro-social dialogue,” Harris said.Only the ministers of immigration and public safety have the authority to stay Haq’s removal from the country — one through a humanitarian exemption and the other through ministerial direction to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).It’s not clear which minister made the authorization or why. A spokesperson from the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship declined to comment on individual cases.Supporters had argued deporting him back to Pakistan would have threatened his life..Supporters had argued deporting him back Pakistan would have threatened his life..Since being convicted in 2022, he subsequently applied for a spousal sponsorship application into Canada after marrying fellow activist Sophia Papp, the daughter of a wealthy Victoria-based doctor.In August of 2022, Papp publicly climbed a 14-foot ladder and poured molasses on the Gastown Steam Clock in another anti-pipeline protest. The previous May, she helped dump manure in front of then-premier John Horgan’s constituency office in Langford, BC.“The NDP Horgan government doesn’t seem to give a s**t about following through on their promises to protect old growth, so we gave him some,” she said — as spokesperson — in a statement.That same year she was profiled in Wired magazine as a brain trauma survivor that had a transformative affect on her personality.
