KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – The federal government continues its efforts to deport Abdoul Abdi, the young man who came to Nova Scotia at the age of six, with his sister and two aunts, as jointly-sponsored refugees who fled Somalia.
An update by his lawyer, Benjamin Perryman, states that the Federal Court will hear an emergency request this week to temporarily stop the deportation of Abdoul Abdi.
Abdi had asked Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety, to suspend the deportation hearing while the Federal Court hears a constitutional challenge of the Minister’s decision to deport. The Minister refused this request and instead asked the Immigration and Refugee Board to proceed with a deportation hearing, Perryman writes.
As a result, Abdi, is at risk of losing his recently gained employment and being returned to prison, since having a job is a condition of his release.
“Mr. Abdi argues he will be irreparably harmed if he is stripped of his rights before having the merits of his court case decided. He won his first court challenge in October and believes his current case will also be successful,” writes Perryman.
At the age of 20 Abdoul pled guilty to aggravated assault and other charges. He was sentenced to 4.5 years in jail. As a result he was deemed criminally inadmissible to Canada. Deportation would never have been an option if Community Services had applied for Canadian citizenship on Abdoul’s behalf after he became a permanent ward of the state at the age of seven.
The Court hearing to request a temporary stop of the deportation is scheduled for Thursday Feb. 15 at 9:30am in Halifax, Perryman reports. Abdoul Abdi’s constitutional challenge is still in the early phase and the Court has not yet decided if or when there will be a full hearing.
In a Facebook message poet and activist El Jones asks that supporters continue to put pressure on Goodale and the federal government.
“(Abdoul) has been working so hard and has a loving community around him supporting him. Instead of giving him a chance, the government is rushing through with this hearing which will strip him of his ability to work and could return him to prison. PLEASE help us stop this deportation and give Abdoul the chance to work and live in his community,” she writes.
email : Hon.Ralph.Goodale@Canada.ca
Phone: 613-944-4875 or 1-800-830-3118
Fax: 613-954-5186
My latest email to Minister Goodale and South Shore – St. Margaret’s MP, Bernadette Jordan about this topic:
Dear Minister and Ms. Jordan:
I am writing once again about this young man who has been treated so egregiously by our country. (https://nsadvocate.org/2018/02/11/news-brief-feds-continue-efforts-to-deport-abdoul-abdi-despite-constitutional-challenge/#more-6819) I think it fair to say that the treatment he received as a child at the hands of NS Community Services was abominable at best and is perhaps better described as child abuse. In addition to the cruel treatment he received he was denied the right to be a Canadian citizen by the neglect of NS Community Services.
The federal government now has an opportunity to correct at least some of the damage done to this man by not deporting him and by assisting him in becoming a Canadian citizen. It seems, however, that rather than take a compassionate, caring, and common sense approach our federal government is hell-bent on seeing this man sent to Somalia where he will almost certainly die a very early death. You know his circumstances, you know what will happen if he is deported. His life is in your hands and if you continue with this outrageous action his blood will be on your hands. He may have committed a crime in Canada but, in the face of Canada not having a death sentence, in the face of our international obligations, you are sentencing him to death for that crime.
There is no need for this matter to proceed to court Mr. Minister. Issue a directive granting him status and direct that the officials of your department assist him in becoming a Canadian citizen. Ms. Jordan, as the MP for South Shore – St. Margaret’s, I implore you to make a great deal of noise about this in the media and in parliament, notwithstanding you are a member of the governing party. Decency and justice must come before the party.
Yours truly,
Ron Stockton
Mahone Bay, NS
B0J 2E0