UPDATE: Refusal to Honour Promise to Help Family Facing Deportation, Community’s Plea to the Immigration Minister Remains Unanswered
Nisha Rani, Kuldeep Singh, their two-year-old Canadian-born daughter, friends, and allies from the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC), Comité d’action de Parc-Extension, and Afrique au Féminin gathered yesterday (Friday, July 3) in front of MP Marjorie Michel’s office in Montreal to call on the federal government to halt the family’s deportation, scheduled for July 4, 2026.
The Singh-Rani family arrived in Canada in 2019, and made a refugee claim shortly afterward. Since then, they have exhausted all available refugee appeal processes. In July 2025, they submitted an application for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. More than a year later, no decision has been rendered, despite the family’s deep establishment in Canada. Their daughter, who is two years old and who has been diagnosed with severe iron-deficiency anemia, is a Canadian citizen born in Montréal. She has spent her entire life in Canada. Deporting her parents would either separate her from them or force a Canadian child to leave her own country.
Since the Singh-Rani family received their removal date, community members have mobilized massively to stop their deportation. A public pressure campaign has been organized by the IWC, and a petition supporting the family’s demands has gathered over 700 signatures. Community solidarity culminated in the rally held in front of MP Michel’s office on July 3, urging her to intervene in asking Ministers Lena Diab and Gary Anandasangaree to stay the family’s deportation. Over 60 community members gathered inlcuding organizations from Parc-Extension, family and friends.
During the rally, MP Michel’s office invited the family inside to speak with them about helping stop the deportation, particularly for the sake of their Canadian daughter. MP Michel’s office told the family that it would call IRCC to expedite the processing of their Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) application, which has been filed by the IWC and received by the IRCC processing centre on July 3. This brought much joy to the attendees of the rally, who all relied on the hope that the TRP application would be processed expeditiously.
Unfortunately, after 4PM on Friday, MP Michel’s office contacted the family again and expressed that IRCC has not been able to process the TRP application expeditiously, a solution that has been granted in previous cases.
Despite massive mobilization and the presence of several meritorious factors that weigh in favour of staying the deportation, the community’s demands have gone unheard. The IWC wishes to highlight that timely and transparent collaboration between community organizations and MP offices, as well as respect for the knowledge held by organizations on the front line, are crucial in enabling elected officials to intervene in meritorious cases in an efficient manner.
This family’s removal comes amid a sharp increase in deportations from Quebec. According to the Canada Border Services Agency, Quebec accounts for more than half of all removals carried out in Canada, with 2,886 removals executed in Quebec in 2026, which means 200 deportations weekly in Quebec. These are not simply statistics, they represent families, workers, and community members whose lives are being torn apart.
The Singh-Rani family is still scheduled to be removed from Canada today, July 4.
