Bring Zain home

Tell Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab: Bring Zain home!

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Honourable Minister Metlege Diab, Zain Haq is a 24-year-old nonviolent climate activist who had been living in Canada since the age of 18 and married a Canadian, Sophia Papp, in 2023. On January 26, 2025, he was deported by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to Pakistan for mischief charges arising from nonviolent climate activism.  The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA)’s treatment of Zain revealed prejudice throughout the process. Even before his nonviolent protest activity led to a mischief conviction, CBSA tried to detain him indefinitely, twice, which was correctly overturned, twice, by an immigration judge. CBSA claimed that Zain was not on track to finish his studies in order  to expedite his removal before a conviction – a claim swiftly disproven by Zain’s university, Simon Fraser University, which produced two documents indicating that (1) he was on track to complete his studies, and (2) that he is permanently eligible to resume his studies without reapplying.   Thousands of people have already e-mailed you and your predecessor, urging the government to not subject Zain to unnecessary hardship for wanting to protect Canada’s wildlife. Members of your government have engaged in the same kind of civil disobedience as Zain, a testament to the fact that the government can choose to embrace young leaders instead of punishing them. After Zain’s Temporary Residence permit granted by Minister Miller expired, CBSA unreasonably reinitiated his deportation, and Zain and Sophia’s in-Canada Spousal Sponsorship with Humanitarian and Compassionate considerations was unreasonably denied a mere 48 hours before Zain’s deportation. CBSA’s rationale was that Zain was actively being removed from Canada and therefore ineligible (which would not have happened had IRCC renewed his subsequent TRP in a timely manner).   This is yet again an indication of the consistent unreasonableness and prejudice that Zain and Sophia have been subjected to throughout this process.  According to the couple’s lawyer Mr. Cohn: “It is an extreme departure from conventional practice to see an application of this nature — with an authentic marriage, only low-level mischief convictions that were prosecuted summarily, an explicit acknowledgement that there is no risk to public safety, and with significant establishment and public support — refused.”   I humbly ask that you take action to bring Zain home to Canada by:   Settling the judicial review (IMM-2149-25) of the unreasonable refusal of Mr. Haq and Sophia’s in-Canada Spousal PR application and agree to reconsider it (Application F001082436) as an in-Canada application; Granting Mr. Haq a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP); and/or Expediting Mr. Haq & Sophia Papp's ‘Outland Spousal Sponsorship Application with Humanitarian and Compassionate Considerations’ (Application #XF001506781). Thousands of Canadians are counting on you to do the right thing and bring Zain home.

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Bring Zain home

On January 26, 2025, Zain Haq was deported from Canada on mischief charges arising from nonviolent climate activism.

Zain and his Canadian wife, Sophia Papp, had their Spousal Sponsorship application denied without a clear reason – 48 hours before Zain was deported to Pakistan. A lack of substantive explanation for this decision is unprecedented and possibly unlawful.

Deporting a person from their family and home (in this case, for climate activism!) is deeply troubling.

Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Lena Metlege Diab, can right this wrong by granting Zain a temporary resident permit (TRP) without delay, and by expediting Sophia and Zain’s Spousal Sponsorship application with humanitarian considerations, which the couple has just submitted.

Please send a letter to Immigration Minister Diab and urge her to bring Zain home! Call to action above form on right: Tell Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab: Bring Zain home!