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Abstract
In November 2008, Canadian immigration officers affected the deportation of paralysed refugee claimant Laibar Singh. For 15 months, Singh had evaded previous deportation orders by claiming legal sanctuary in gurdwaras across the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, arousing public concerns about the laxity of law. This paper examines the public saga of Singh's deportation to illuminate how law constitutes the secular topography of the public sphere. To explicate the racial relations of scrutiny that govern Sikh and South Asian populations in Vancouver, I analyse a variety of media and legal texts about Singh's continued presence in Canada. By attending to a series of public demands of law made during this stay, this paper illustrates how law figures as both a conduit and arbiter of divergent public sentiments about migration, religion, and political dissent.
Notes
The CBSC is an administrative body that governs journalistic standards for private broadcasters. Media Watch filed a separate complaint about public broadcasters coverage of Singh's stay of sanctuary, which was dismissed on similar grounds.