'LGBTQ+ people will never be accepted in India': One man's fight against deportation
Aya Dufour | CBC News | Posted: March 11, 2024 8:00 AM | Last Updated: March 11
Sudbury’s Tarun Godara argues he’ll be in danger if forced to return to his native country
The first thing Tarun Godara's brother said when he found out his sibling was gay was to promise he'd help him get out of India.
He worried about what could happen to Godara and the wider family if people found out.
Godara was in his early twenties then, and had already experienced a decade of hiding, taunting, blackmailing, and assault related to his sexual identity.
It was decided that he would head to Canada as an international student – and so he landed in Sudbury to get an arts education at Cambrian College in 2017.
In the years that followed, he built a life in Sudbury. He made close friends, found jobs, adopted a dog, grew indoor plants, created murals, was hired to do the courtroom portrait of convicted Sweeney killer Steven Wright, among other things.
"I never thought that I would fall in love with the city and that I would create a family here," said Godara. "It's the place I call home."
But all that could be taken any day now as Godara faces imminent deportation.
The troubles with immigration began in 2022. Up until then, Godara had a clear plan of the steps he'd take to extend his stay in Canada.
But a combination of bad timing, poor advice and mistakes threw that plan off the rails.
Lost in a bureaucratic labyrinth
Godara's post graduation work permit was set to expire in August 2022, the same month a special federal government policy allowing to extend those permits was to come into effect.
The issue, though, is that he had to apply for renewal of the permit 30 days before it expired, and so he sent an application before the policy was in place, although he was eligible for it.
He worried that could pose a problem – so he called the Immigration Department and his local MP's office to confirm he had done the right thing.
Both told him to keep his application in the system.
That turned out to be a mistake. Godara's work permit extension applications got rejected, one after another.
He says he should have hired a lawyer at that point, but money was a problem. He was earning some $1800 a month with his restaurant job, and paying $1200 in rent.
He barely had enough cash to pay the $400 work permit extension fee, and was hoping the bureaucratic hiccup would solve itself by going through the application process again.
Then came the removal order, and the call from the Canada Border Services Agency.
"I hate coming home, checking my mail, scared there might be a flight waiting for me," he said. "It's so scary."
The threat of deportation forced Godara into a completely different kind of fight to stay in the country – one that involves opening up about the reasons he experienced hardship in India.
His friends in Sudbury helped set up a Go Fund Me, and Godara hired 2SLGBTQ+ rights lawyer Douglas Elliott to navigate last resort options.
Proving the danger he would face if deported to India
One of those is a pre-removal risk assessment application, which involves proving Godara would experience persecution, torture or cruel and unusual treatment or punishment if returned to India.
So he gathered testimony, screenshots of messages, letters, medical documents and photographs detailing what he experienced, along with news describing the discrimination and violence other LGBTQ+ people face in India.
But based on reports from the UK and Australia, the immigration officer who reviewed the case found that Godara wouldn't face significant risks if returned to India.
The decision cites a 2022 ruling from India's Supreme Court decriminalizing safe sex unions as proof conditions for LGBTQ+ people are improving in the country.
Elliott disagrees with that assessment, and is asking a federal judge to review it.
"The nail that sticks up gets hammered down. The only way LGBT people survive in India is by maintaining a low profile, by hiding.
"But unfortunately, because of the bureaucratic snafu that he got himself into, he now must be very visible and transparent about his sexuality and his gender expression," he said.
"And that's going to make him a target when he goes back to India. And I fear for his safety because it's a country where sexual assault is weaponized against women and against LGBT people," added Elliott.
Godara's last hope now lies in an application to obtain permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, a process that takes up to two years, and that doesn't stop the deportation process.
Godara worries about what will happen to him. "LGBTQ+ people will never be accepted in India," he said.
In 2024, an average of 49 people have been deported every day
Immigration Canada issued, on average, 524 removal orders per day so far this year, according to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) spokesperson Jacqueline Roby.
In an email to CBC, she writes that the decision to deport is not taken lightly, and only taken once all venues for appeal have been exhausted.
"While some people subject to a removal order will be removed almost immediately, others will pursue legal recourse mechanisms available to them, which can take years to adjudicate," she said.
One person that could stop the deportation is Immigration MInister Marc Miller. When asked about Godara, his press secretary said he cannot comment on specific files, but confirmed he is aware of the case.
Godara is set to meet CBSA officials in Toronto in mid-April to discuss the next steps in his deportation.