Egyptian asylum-seekers decry ‘Islamophobia’ by Canada’s border agency – BC | 24CA News
Attia Elserfy was anticipating a second lease on life when he escaped Egypt together with his household, touchdown in Vancouver in October 2018.
But the Elserfys say their lives are in limbo as a result of the Canada Border Services Agency challenged each Attia and his spouse’s admissibility as refugees over their ties to a political social gathering outlawed by the Egyptian authorities.
The Elserfys took half in a listening to in November 2021, however haven’t heard from immigration officers since, unable to work, they’ve needed to resort to welfare after the Egyptian authorities froze their belongings.
“It’s making me feel crazy, because it’s not the democratic Canada that I expected,” Elserfy stated in an interview by way of an Arabic interpreter.
“It makes me feel like I’m still living under the authoritarian regime that I escaped from.”
Elserfy and different Egyptian asylum-seekers spoke Monday alongside New Democrat MP Don Davies at his constituency workplace in Vancouver, decrying the CBSA’s remedy of current claimants affiliated with the Freedom and Justice Party and the potential denial of their refugee bids.
Members of the Egyptian neighborhood protested exterior in help of the households.
Five households from Egypt declare the CBSA’s actions are fuelled by “Islamophobia” and knowledge offered by the Egyptian authorities, which is main Canada to withhold safety and inflicting extreme “distress and trauma.”
Davies stated on the press convention at his workplace that the CBSA was being deeply unfair, as a result of it “misuses” the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to disclaim safety “based solely” on candidates’ hyperlinks to a political social gathering.
Davies stated he was notably appalled that this was occurring to Elserfy, who was a labour motion chief in Egypt whom Davies described as an “advocate for democracy” in that nation.
“We are a G7 country,” Davies stated. “We are a country of immigrants and refugees. It’s unacceptable that people have to wait five years to have a decision. You can see the destructive impact that this has on families as everything in their life is put on hold.”
CBSA didn’t instantly present touch upon the asylum-seekers’ state of affairs.
The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act permits for Canada to deem a refugee applicant inadmissible if there are affordable grounds to imagine the person could have been “engaging in an act of subversion against a democratic government, institution or process as they are understood in Canada” or in terrorism.
The Freedom and Justice Party was dissolved by an Egyptian court docket in 2014 for the social gathering’s affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, the nation’s oldest Islamist motion.
In 2013, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi was defence minister and commander of Egypt’s navy when he led the overthrow of then-president Mohamed Morsi, who was a member of each the Freedom and Justice Party and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Sissi’s authorities has since labelled the Brotherhood a terrorist group and cracked down closely on its members. Its members have been amongst 14 activists sentenced to jail in March, after what Amnesty International stated was the violation to their rights to a good trial.
Elserfy stated he was requested to affix the Freedom and Justice Party in his function as a labour activist, and he was not energetic within the social gathering.
He stated Egyptian authorities tried to pressure him to endorse Sissi’s authorities in 2013, and tried to arrest him a number of occasions after he refused,forcing the household to evade authorities in Egypt a number of occasions earlier than shifting to Canada.
Elserfy stated he obtained preliminary approval for his refugee standing utility in March 2019, when a CBSA officer intervened and performed an interview.
“His whole discussion was about (my) membership in the Freedom and Justice Party and trying to inquire about the relationship between the party and the Muslim Brotherhood,” he stated.
The CBSA agent then challenged Elserfy and his spouse’s admissibility in November 2019 and June 2021, respectively. Elserfy stated they’ve obtained no updates on their standing for the reason that final listening to on the case in November 2021.
Elserfy’s three youngsters did achieve refugee standing in March 2022, however the CBSA vetting course of was so intense that one youngster developed suicidal ideas, he stated.
“If the CBSA actions result in one of my children committing suicide, this will be on you,” Elserfy stated, addressing his feedback to federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino. “I am here today with my family to say, enough is enough.”
Elserfy additionally has two grownup sons in Turkey who face related uncertainties, as their father can not deliver them to Canada with out refugee standing. They haven’t been in a position to meet in individual since 2018.
“Just seeing my family’s lives falling apart, I don’t know what to do for them anymore,” Elserfy stated. “I personally am under so much financial and mental health pressures that it has become unbearable.”
Davies stated he has submitted letters to each the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada and Mendicino’s workplace on the difficulty.
“The (refugee board) has a responsibility to ensure that refugees who come to the country seeking protection are treated with dignity and respect,” Davies stated in his letter to Mendicino. “This includes ensuring that they are not subjected to prolonged periods of uncertainty and insecurity, which can have a devastating impact on their mental health and well-being.”
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