Uproar in Canada over deportation ADEPORTATION ORDER AGAINST
a Nigerian
coup-plotter has exposed the danger facing people who take up arms against despotic governments, then come to Canada to find safe haven.
Shola Oremade, who has lived in Ottawa for about 10 years, lost a seven-year battle to stay in Canada after he was declared a national security risk for participating in a 1995 attempted coup against the late Nigerian military dictator Sani Abacha. Even though the coup was foiled and not a shot was fired, an immigration appeal panel ordered Oremade deported because he had engaged or instigated “the subversion by force of the government in power.”
The sole panellist said it really didn't matter that the government in question was despotic, or that no violence actually took place. The law, she said, makes no such exceptions.
“I find that there are no provisions in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act with respect to whether the government is despotic, and no provision with respect to 'relative force',” the adjudicator noted in a 2006 ruling.
Oremade, 63, who has been under a deportation order since 2009, doesn't deny his involvement in the attempted coup. But he is baffled at how participating in a failed coup against a military dictator makes him a national security risk worthy of deportation to Nigeria.
The deportation order hasn't been carried out for lack of travel documents for Oremade. The Canada Border Services Agency's request for the travel documents from the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa has not been met because the Nigerian authorities apparently want to see Oremade's old passport, not a copy, which, is what the CBSA appears to have provided. Oremade says Canada's immigration authorities have lost the original passport.
Some experts say the decision to deport Oremade could have serious implications for others. If no exceptions are made, and anyone involved in a failed coup against a brutal government is deemed a national security risk, that could extend to the rebels who are fighting to overthrow the ADEPORTATION ORDER AGAINST a Nigerian coup-plotter has exposed the danger facing people who take up arms against despotic governments, then come to Canada to find safe haven.
Shola Oremade, who has lived in Ottawa for about 10 years, lost a seven-year battle to stay in Canada after he was declared a national security risk for participating in a 1995 attempted coup against the late Nigerian military dictator Sani Abacha. Even though the coup was foiled and not a shot was fired, an immigration appeal panel ordered Oremade deported because he had engaged or instigated “the subversion by force of the government in power.”
The sole panellist said it really didn't matter that the government in question was despotic, or that no violence actually took place. The law, she said, makes no such exceptions.
“I find that there are no provisions in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act with respect to whether the government is despotic, and no provision with respect to 'relative force',” the adjudicator noted in a 2006 ruling.
Oremade, 63, who has been under a deportation order since 2009, doesn't deny his involvement in the attempted coup. But he is baffled at how participating in a failed coup against a military dictator makes him a national security risk worthy of deportation to Nigeria.
The deportation order hasn't been carried out for lack of travel documents for Oremade. The Canada Border Services Agency's request for the travel documents from the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa has not been met because the Nigerian authorities apparently want to see Oremade's old passport, not a copy, which, is what the CBSA appears to have provided. Oremade says Canada's immigration authorities have lost the original passport.
Some experts say the decision to deport Oremade could have serious implications for others. If no exceptions are made, and anyone involved in a failed coup against a brutal government is deemed a national security risk, that could extend to the rebels who are fighting to overthrow the 2010. But in the nine months between October 2011 and June 2012, 213 people applied, according to figures from the Immigration and Refugee Board. And with thousands now fleeing the country, the numbers could increase dramatically.University of Ottawa refugee law professor Peter Showler says Oremade's case should serve as a warning to asylum seekers who at one time or another have taken up arms against brutal regimes. Showler, a former chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, says Abacha was a brutal dictator whose human rights violations were well documented, and if someone involved in a failed coup against him could be declared a national security risk, so could those involved in the Syrian uprising.Board of Canada, says Abacha was a brutal dictator whose human rights violations were well documented, and if someone involved in a failed coup against him could be declared a national security risk, so could those involved in the Syrian uprising.
The key provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act leave no doubt that people who engage in the violent overthrow of a government are not welcome in Canada.
“Some provisions of Section this is done only in exceptional circumstances.
Showler says critics anticipated problems when the law was being considered a decade ago, and dubbed Section 34 (1) the “Mandela rule,” because they figured it would bar the former South African leader and Nobel laureate from Canada. It is the same law that was used to bar controversial British MP George Galloway from Canada in 2009, a decision that was later overturned by a federal judge who said the government had overreached in its application.
The immigration law as it stands appears to be at odds with government support for uprisings in places like Libya and Syria.
But Bailey says the government has good reasons for enacting that part of the law.
“Section 34 (1) (b) of the IRPA is intended to ensure that Canada does not become a haven for foreign nationals or permanent residents who have demonstrated their willingness to commit violent acts against any government,” she says.
-The Nation
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