A week before the scheduled date of the expulsion of Mamadou Konaté, about forty demonstrators gathered Thursday in front of the offices of Service Canada to ask the government to reconsider its decision.
• Read also: Expel those who work!
• Read also: Mobilization for a “guardian angel” threatened with expulsion
The Canada Border Services Agency recently indicated that Mr. Konaté will be deported from Canada on September 30.
“I did everything a human being should do to integrate into a society. I feel adopted to the system, I have an apartment, I have integrated well. People are here to denounce that it is unfair,” said Konaté.
As a reminder, Mamadou Konaté has lived in Quebec since 2016, after fleeing the civil war in Côte d’Ivoire, his country of origin. During the COVID-19 crisis, he worked at the front as a maintenance worker in CHSLDs located in the red zone, and contracted the virus himself.
Despite his status as a “guardian angel”, his asylum application had been rejected. In the early 2000s, he was part of a rebel group that sought to overthrow the government. Mr. Konaté, for his part, claims to have been “recruited there by force”.
His story had been heavily publicized, and several politicians have spoken out in recent months in support of him.
His lawyer, Me Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, asked the Border Services to postpone the date of deportation, until the legal procedures are completed. A request which was met with a refusal, which he disputes before the Federal Court.
“If he has to leave, we will file a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee against Canada,” he warned.
According to him, an Amnesty International report would indicate that on his return to Côte d’Ivoire, Mr. Konaté “will be arrested, he will be interrogated, he will be detained, and probably tortured”.
It is that Mr. Konaté had expressed in 2020 his support for Guillaume Soro, a former Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, in political exile.
“We believed that Canada was a country where the rights of refugees were respected,” said Marisa Berry Mendez, spokesperson for Amnesty International. Since his arrival in Quebec, the rights of Mamadou Konaté have been violated on numerous occasions.
Although she did not know him personally, Diane Johnston attended the protest, along with many others, after hearing his story through the media.
“I think it’s very important. If the Canadian government sends Mamadou back to Côte d’Ivoire, it will violate their international obligations,” she argued.