A climate activist who accrued numerous arrests while on a study permit has left Canada, en route to his home country of Pakistan.
Zain Haq had appealed to the federal government to halt his deportation — again — however Immigration Minister Marc Miller did not heed his calls a second time.
According to the Vancouver Sun, Haq began his journey in Vancouver on Saturday evening, reporting to the Canadian Border Services Agency at YVR alongside his wife, Sophia Papp, and her parents. After taking a red-eye to Toronto, he waited for 10 hours at Pearson International before boarding his flight to Karachi shortly before 4 p.m. EST.
"I accept my fate," he said, per the outlet.
Haq first came to Canada from Pakistan in 2019 to study economics at Simon Fraser University, and quickly became involved in climate activism, co-founding the Save Old Growth movement. He was arrested over a dozen times for non-violent offences related to protests, including blocking a tree clearing by Trans Mountain. He has also served nine days in a correctional facility after being found guilty of contempt of court.
It was following the latter legal incident that his study permit was revoked and CBSA found him inadmissible to Canada. He was set to be deported on April 22, 2024, but managed to get that stayed as he and his wife worked to keep him in the country.
Their efforts came up fruitless, and when his temporary resident permit expired and an ensuing application was misplaced by CBSA, the original deportation order was brought back.
A number of environmentalist groups and Green Party leader Elizabeth May came to his defence, but there was little they could do to keep him in the country without Miller's assistance.
BC Conservative leader John Rustad was less sympathetic.
"If Elizabeth May is not happy in Canada, perhaps she should move to Pakistan," he wrote in a post on X. "I'm sick and tired of woke, traitorous politicians fighting for 'students' like Zain who commit crimes. Zain can go home & commit crimes to protect climate and old growth forests in Pakistan."
Papp has vowed to visit Haq in Pakistan, from where they will continue applying to bring him back to Canada.
"Deportation means being permanently removed from a country I call home, and a place I've lived in my entire adult life," Haq said. "The thought of being separated from my wife, Sophia, and the life we've built together in Canada is devastating."
