Wednesday June 20, 2018
By
Michael MacDonald
Judge hears appeal for former child refugee
Abdoul
Abdi, who came to Canada as a Somali refugee at age 6, is facing
deportation after serving a criminal sentence because no one got him
citizenship while he was in foster care. STAFF/Reuters
HALIFAX - A federal lawyer says a man who was a child refugee from
Somalia when he first arrived in Nova Scotia is trying to get Canadian
citizenship through the back door despite a violent crime conviction and
his possible deportation.
Melissa Grant, who represents the
federal public safety minister, told a Federal Court hearing Tuesday
that a decision by the Canada Border Services Agency to refer Abdoul
Abdi to a deportation hearing should not be overturned by a judicial
review.
"What the applicant is actually trying to do here is to
seek a de facto grant of citizenship," Grant told Federal Court Judge
Ann Marie McDonald, who later reserved her decision in the case.
Abdi,
who was born in Saudi Arabia in 1993, lost his mother in a refugee camp
when he was four and came to Canada with his sister and aunts two years
later. He was taken into provincial care shortly after arriving in Nova
Scotia.
He was moved 31 times between foster homes, but he was never granted citizenship while he was growing up in the province.Abdi
developed behavioural problems that advocates say were not adequately
treated. Those issues led to problems with the justice system.
The
border agency detained Abdi and referred him to a deportation hearing
after he served about five years in prison for multiple offences
including aggravated assault.
Abdi's lawyer, Benjamin Perryman,
argued that the Canadian and Nova Scotia governments failed his client,
which is why Abdi should not face a deportation hearing.
"He would be a citizen, if he had been taken care of properly," Perryman said outside the Halifax courtroom.
Perryman
told the judge that the decision to send Abdi to a deportation hearing
was unreasonable, unfair and contrary to the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms and international law.
He said Abdi's aunt had asked the
province to grant him citizenship, but he said she was refused — and the
province continued to drag its heels for eight years.
"This is what systemic racism looks like," he said.
Abdi
did not attend the hearing. He is living and working in Toronto, which
is in keeping with one of the conditions of his release.
Grant
said the suggestion that Abdi's rights under the Charter and
international law have been violated are premature and based on
hypothetical harm.
"This is an administrative process that does
not result in any change of status for the applicant," Grant told the
court. "All this decision is doing is referring the applicant to the
immigration division."
She said Abdi's case does not engage the
Charter of Rights, and she stressed that the law clearly states that
permanent residents who commit serious crimes can be deported.
As well, Grant said Abdi could seek a so-called danger
opinion from immigration officials, which can be used to prevent
refugees from being deported to unsafe countries.
However,
Perryman challenged those assertions, saying immigration officials will
have no choice but to send Abdi back to Somalia if the deportation
hearing goes ahead. As for the danger opinion, he said such an
assessment wouldn't take into account the challenges Abdi has faced in
Canada.
Lawyers from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and
the non-profit advocacy group Justice for Children and Youth also made
submissions to the court as interveners.
Jane Stewart, the lawyer
for Justice for Children and Youth, said Abdi's interaction with the
child welfare system hurt his chances for success.
"We see
persistently negative outcomes for children in care," she said, citing
studies that show lower scores for education and health.
"He has been disadvantaged as a result of his interactions with the state."
Abdi's
case has prompted supporters to call on the Nova Scotia government to
intervene on his behalf. As well, the high-profile case has sparked
protests at events with federal leaders, including a town hall earlier
this year with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Lower Sackville, N.S.