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A paralyzed man facing deportation is now taking refuge in Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Temple.

Laibar Singh has been the subject of demonstrations in the Indo-Canadian community which is decrying a government order deporting him back to his homeland of India.

Last week, Canadian Border Services Agency abandoned an effort to get Singh on a plane back to India after hundreds of supporters blocked access to his vehicle.

At the protest, several people in the crowd promised to look after Singh financially if he could stay in the country.

Reports indicating that support is waning are inaccurate, according to Balwant Gill, president of the Guru Nanak Sikh gurdwara, near 70 Avenue and Scott Road.

Gill said he’s had several calls since Singh arrived at the temple Saturday at 1:30 a.m.

“Everybody promised support financially,” Gill said Monday. “I haven’t received anything so far, but I’m told if I need it, it’s there.”

Singh has been shuttled between three Sikh temples in the last six days.

Gill said his temple won’t put up resistance if authorities come for Singh.

“I have no plan to break the law, that’s what I’m saying,” Gill said.

It’s been a long battle for Singh, who was one of seven children – four boys and three girls. His family, like many in the small Punjab village, was poor.

Singh liked school, but his family could not afford a full education. He joined the army. It paid more than a labourer’s job, and at over six feet tall and strong, he was an ideal candidate.

During those years, he married Gian, a girl from a nearby village. It was an arranged marriage and he had never met his bride before their wedding day, which was a simple affair.

When he left the army and returned to his wife and family, he got a job on a local farm, earning a dollar a day.

Gian died in 1992 after a sudden fever. Singh was desperate. He was a single father to three girls and one boy. He was barely able to put food on the table. When he heard about a fake passport to get to Canada, Singh begged and borrowed the money to get it. It took him years to get the $1,000. The agent who sold him the fraudulent documents told him to lie and say he was fleeing political persecution and seek asylum.

Singh said goodbye to his children and promised to send money.

When he arrived in Montreal in 2003, he declared the documents, applied for asylum and went on the run – first Montreal, then Vancouver and later to Surrey. Over the next three years, every application Singh made to stay in Canada was rejected. He missed each immigration appointment because he knew he would be deported.

He was working in Surrey as a painter when he was felled by a brain aneurysm in August 2006. One morning, he got out of bed and collapsed. Weeks later he woke up in a Vancouver hospital. He was paralyzed from below the waist and had limited movement in his upper body. He could not wash, feed or dress himself. He was 48 years old.

It was Friday, July 5 when Singh was at the George Pearson care facility in Vancouver. In two days he was being deported to India, where he would be taken to the exclusive Apollo Hospital in New Delhi. Canada would be paying for his medical expenses for a week at the hospital reserved for rich westerners. After that Singh was on his own.

“I cannot afford to stay at the hospital. My children cannot afford it. If I go back, I will die,” he said, panicked.

He remembered the Sahib Kalgidhar Darbar Gurdwara in Abbotsford, which he heard about from people in Surrey. Singh lied to the hospital staff and told them he wanted to worship one last time. It was late in the evening when he arrived by taxi at the massive building on Blueridge Drive. He paid the $100 fare and met members of the temple at the door.

“Can I pray inside?”

Once inside, Singh told the men his story and asked for sanctuary. The men said yes. The Sikh religion is committed to protecting the sick and needy. It was the first time a temple was used as a place of sanctuary in Canada.

It was Sunday, July 7. Reporters and cameramen were in a scrum outside the temple entrance. Supporters holding cardboard signs and posters chanted.

“Save Laibar Singh! Stop the deportation!”

Over the next six months, the saga of Laibar Singh and his fight to stay in Canada continued. The lobby groups No One Is Illegal and the South Asian Human Rights Group kept up the pressure and organized rallies and wrote letters to politicians. They sent a petition with 40,000 signatures to Ottawa.

But on Aug. 13 Singh was arrested at the MSA General Hospital. He was being treated for a bladder infection when the police and officers from the Canada Border Services Agency arrived.

Singh was taken to the North Fraser Pretrial Centre. Supporters were outraged. They planned a huge rally in Surrey for Aug. 19. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day granted Singh a 60-day stay of deportation.

Singh was granted a further 20-day reprieve on Oct. 20, pending a decision on his humanitarian and compassionate claim. The application was denied on Nov. 27.

The border services officers said Singh should be at Vancouver airport by 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 10.

On arrival at the airport, hundreds of supporters surrounded his taxi, blocking off the road at the international departure area. At 3 p.m. Canada Border Services Agency said the deportation was delayed for security reasons. Singh was returned to the Kalgidar Darbar temple in Abbotsford, then shuttled to the New Westminster temple, and finally to the Guru Nanak temple in Surrey.