Bring Zain home

Tell Immigration Minister Lena Metledge Diab: Bring Zain home!

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Honourable Minister Metledge Diab, Zain Haq is a 24-year-old nonviolent climate activist who had been living in Canada since the age of 18 and with his wife, Sophia Papp, since 2023. On January 26, 2025, he was deported by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for mischief charges arising from nonviolent climate activism. He was deported to Pakistan, which is a region facing the likelihood of war between two states with nuclear powers.   From February to May 2025, Sophia resided in Karachi, Pakistan with Zain and her in-laws. Pakistan is not a safe or comfortable place for foreigners or women, especially with rising tensions in the region. Sophia has been given the impossible choice to remain in Canada without her spouse or relocate to Pakistan, where she does not speak the language and faces significant barriers to her health and wellbeing. No Canadian should be put in this position, especially when the reason for deportation is nonviolent climate activism. This incident reminds us of the unethical treatment of many migrants in the US.  Zain and Sophia’s legal counsel, Randall Cohn, has stated that IRCC's rejection of their spousal sponsorship application without substantive explanation by the IRCC case-file officer is arguably illegal, as it fails to meet the burden in law under Baker v. Canada. The couple was also denied their legal right to procedural fairness because the Spousal Sponsorship application was rejected a mere 48 hours before Zain's deportation date, meaning the couple could not access the appeal process enshrined in the Bill of Rights.  Zain's deportation is of serious concern, both in terms of keeping families together, Canadians safe, and in upholding the integrity of the law.   Zain Haq is a firm believer in nonviolence. Deporting Zain for his environmental leadership is unethical, and the likelihood that government agencies used illegal measures to split up a family is appalling.   I ask that you: Grant Zain Haq’s Temporary Resident Permit (File #: D300179883) that has been processing since January, 2025. I urge those in power to use their lawful discretion to bring Zain back to his wife in Canada, instead of inflicting years of undue hardship upon them for their nonviolent climate activism. Thank you.

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Bring Zain home

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

He and his Canadian wife, Sophia Papp, had their Spousal Sponsorship application denied without substantive legal rationale – 48 hours before Zain’s deportation. A lack of substantive explanation for this decision is unprecedented and unlawful.

Deporting an individual with family ties to Canada for nonviolent, low level criminality (arising from climate activism!) is unethical, and rejecting a couple’s Spousal Sponsorship application without legal rationale is illegal – especially within 48 hrs of the deportation date.

The Minister of Immigration Lena Metledge Diab can right this wrong by granting Zain a temporary resident permit (TRP) without delay.

Please send a letter to Immigration Minister Diab and urge her to bring Zain home!