COLUMN: Think Again – Lawbreakers are not welcome in Canada

Suppose you travelled to another country on a study permit to pursue higher education. However, instead of studying for your tests and completing your assignments, you spend your time blocking traffic, disobeying police officers, and violating court orders.

What would likely happen to you?

Chances are that you’d get sent back to wherever you came from. Countries are under no obligation to tolerate international students who refuse to obey the law.

Meet Zain Haq. Originally from Pakistan, Haq came to Canada in 2019 on a study permit. He enrolled at Simon Fraser University with the stated intention of completing a major in history. However, instead of focusing on his studies, Haq got involved with radical environmentalist organizations such as Extinction Rebellion (a group that wants all fossil fuel use banned).

Unfortunately, Haq didn’t limit his activism to law-abiding protests. In fact, Haq regularly broke the law by blocking traffic at major Vancouver bridges and roadways. After being arrested on multiple occasions, Haq ignored court directives to stop organizing illegal blockades. His willful defiance of the law eventually led to a deportation order.

However, in April last year Haq received a reprieve when someone in the federal immigration department (Haq believes it was Immigration Minister Marc Miller) stopped the deportation order and issued a temporary resident permit that allowed him to stay in Canada for an additional six months. Haq’s temporary resident permit expired in October, and he was finally shipped out of the country earlier this week.

Now to anyone with an ounce of common sense, this was an open-and-shut case. Haq came to Canada on a study permit and intentionally violated the terms of that agreement. Hence, he should have been deported. This is not complicated.

However, Haq had some powerful allies who wanted to excuse his lawbreaking activities. The most prominent is Green Party leader Elizabeth May. At a public event in support of Haq, May described Haq’s case as “a moment for Canada to show the world what fairness and democracy truly mean.”

I’m sorry, but I see nothing fair or democratic about letting an international student who shows no regard for Canadian law stay in this country. As a Member of Parliament, Elizabeth May should be encouraging people to follow the law, not supporting those who disregard it.

One complicating factor is that Haq recently married a Canadian citizen. His supporters argued that it would be cruel to separate the two of them at this time. However, Haq was fully aware of the consequences of his actions. If he truly wanted to put his marriage first, he would have stopped engaging in illegal activities after he got married.

As for the argument that Haq’s actions should be excused because he was standing up for climate justice, keep in mind the profoundly negative impact that his illegal activities had on everyone around him. Haq and his fellow radicals slowed down emergency vehicles, disrupted public transit, delayed delivery trucks, and inconvenienced thousands of drivers. There is nothing noble about intentionally causing chaos in the country where you are supposed to be studying.

Interestingly, Haq accused the Canadian Border Services Agency of acting in a “kafkaesque” way. In his view, the agency used a legal technicality to deport him. There’s a rich irony when someone who routinely breaks the law complains that the law is not being applied fairly in his case. Haq has no one to blame but himself for his current predicament.

Anyone who wants to come and study in Canada needs to follow our laws. Those who can’t abide by this requirement should study somewhere else.

Michael Zwaagstra is a high school teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.