Just hours before their scheduled deportation on Wednesday, a Nigerian family who had been living in Montreal since 2020 received a one-year temporary resident permit. Direct intervention from Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller was necessary, as a small group had been trying by all means to put pressure on him for several days.
“The last five days seemed like 20 years,” Lanre, the father of the family, said with emotion and relief. “For the first time in five years, I was able to see my wife happy.”
They must now wait for a decision on their application for permanent residence on humanitarian grounds, filed eight months ago.
As reported The duty Last week, Lanre, his wife, their nine-year-old son and their twelve-year-old daughter were due to return to Nigeria, taking with them the two-year-old daughter born in Quebec. Before arriving in Montreal via Roxham Road, the family had first stayed in the United States, which however refused to grant her a hearing so that she could assert her asylum claim.
Because of this previous request made in the United States, the Nigerians’ asylum application in Canada was automatically deemed inadmissible, a result of rules in effect since 2019.
Team work
The happy ending is the result of the hard work of a small team including Lanre, a couple of friends made up of Michel Racine and Raphaëlle Curis, and Maryse Poisson, director of social initiatives at Collectif Bienvenue, a refugee support organization.
“We worked very hard, we were creative and we turned over every stone,” says Mr. Racine, “and Maryse was an incredible quarterback.” In the last few days, they put a petition online that collected 768 signatures and contacted a large number of elected officials, community organizations and stakeholders in their community to convince Minister Miller to intervene in the matter.
Several politicians have lent their support, including two who wrote letters directly to the minister: Alexandre Boulerice, MNA for the New Democratic Party, and Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, MNA for Québec solidaire. The Collectif Bienvenue, the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC-CTI) and the Ligue des droits et libertés have done the same.
Lanre, who wishes to withhold his last name for security reasons, explains that his family would leave with virtually no luggage, partly out of spite. “You have received a death sentence, why would you need to bring anything with you?” he illustrates.
There are no guarantees for the family, but their chances of being able to stay in the country beyond the next year would be good. “In the cases I’ve seen like this one, if the reasons are sufficient to give the temporary resident permit, usually they should also be sufficient to obtain permanent residence,” said Cliche-Rivard, who worked as an immigration lawyer before becoming an MP.
Lanre expresses his great gratitude for all that his three “angels sent by God” did to save his family from expulsion.
Tears come to his eyes when he recalls a memorable gesture from Mr. Racine, with whom he volunteered at Moisson Montréal for four months upon his arrival in the country. “Michel was the first to give me money when I needed it.” [pour prendre l’autobus pour faire du bénévolat]he said. Before I came here, I was the one giving money to people.”