A Pakistani national, Zain Haq has been at the centre of activist blockades of bridges, ferry terminals, highways and even the Vancouver airport
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For years, every time a port, highway, work site or rail line was blockaded by B.C. activists, there was a good chance Zain Haq was not too far away.
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A Pakistani national who first came to Canada in 2019 on a study permit, he’s been arrested at least 10 times, convicted of mischief charges, and has been pretty open about his role in leading a foreign-funded “rebellion” against the Canadian government.
And now, after a years-long effort by the Canada Border Services Agency to secure Haq’s deportation, the 23-year-old’s removal was stayed at the 11th hour, potentially due to the intervention of the Trudeau government.
“All I heard is I’m not getting deported Sunday,” Haq told Glacier Media on Friday.
Haq had been scheduled for deportation by no later than Monday, April 22 — and a last-minute appeal had already been rejected by a federal judge.
But on Friday, Haq received a cryptic call from the office of Joyce Murray — the Liberal MP for his riding of Vancouver Quadra — telling him to stay by his phone. He was soon contacted by a CBSA case officer telling him he could stay in the country.
Haq’s lawyer, Randall Cohn, told Glacier that he suspected someone in the federal cabinet was “listening and paying attention to the timing and decided to step in.”
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Haq wasn’t facing deportation because of his arrests or conviction for mischief. Rather it was due to violations of his study permit. Haq was away from class for long periods, and at one point was put on academic probation by Simon Fraser University.
Over the last five years, Haq has been at the centre of two of the province’s most extreme environmental groups: Extinction Rebellion and Save Old Growth, of which he’s a co-founder.
Between them, the groups have been the singular cause of activist-led disruptions throughout the Lower Mainland through their chosen tactics of blockading roads, bridges and other infrastructure. They also both carry demands that cannot feasibly be met.
Extinction Rebellion demands the immediate abandonment of all fossil fuels. Save Old Growth demands the immediate suspension of all old-growth logging — a sector that still represents one-fifth of all B.C. forestry. The “no old growth” demand, in particular, has been denounced by B.C. First Nations who say it ignores Indigenous land-use rights.
Haq has said his first blockade was to participate in an Extinction Rebellion closure of the Burrard Bridge in 2019, only a few months after he’d arrived to study as an undergraduate at Simon Fraser University.
A mischief case brought against him in 2023 detailed Haq’s central role in extended closures of bridges, intersections and — in October 2021 — a two-hour blockade of Vancouver International Airport. In July of that year, court documents said that Haq helped organize a road closure that “interfered with emergency vehicles trying to access St. Paul’s Hospital.”
“Mr. Haq has shown disdain for the rule of law and he has publicly encouraged others to break the law while publicly celebrating his arrest,” read a 2023 decision convicting Haq of mischief. Although prosecutors sought a 60-day jail sentence, Haq was instead given 61 days of house arrest.
Throughout all this, Haq has routinely acknowledged he was breaking Canadian law and threatened to continue doing it until his demands were met.
“Every single day we will be disrupting the highways in multiple locations, both on the Island and in Vancouver,” he warned British Columbians at the start of the 2022 summer travel season.
Haq has often compared himself to the leaders of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. In a 2020 Extinction Rebellion statement, he was quoted as saying “occupying private and public spaces is an essential step towards truly understanding what a democracy looks like.” He added, “it is impossible to frighten people who have declared a non-violent rebellion against the government.”
He’s even admitted that his actions were foreign funded. In a 2022 New York Times interview, he said he’d received $170,000 from the California-based Climate Emergency Fund.
“We’re not trying to be popular,” Haq told the newspaper. “Civil disobedience historically is about challenging a way of life.”
Haq’s wife, Sophie Papp, has applied to sponsor Haq for permanent residency, the CBC reported. However, it remains unclear how long he may be able to stay in Canada.
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