The rigid rules of the Canadian migratory system have stood for a year between a Syrian mother who took refuge in Quebec and her three children, who remained in Damascus. In a few weeks, they risk finding themselves on the street, teenagers left to their own devices in a country which is barely recovering from the civil war and still prey to a regime which reigns with abuse and of abuses.
The hostilities which have ravaged Syria since 2011 have already deprived Marwa Rifai of a brother, “taken hostage” one day by the police loyal to Bashar al-Assad never to return to his family. The war also chased this young mother from her native land and threw her in Quebec, a winter and French-speaking city that she has learned to appreciate since her arrival in 2016.
Today, a migratory detail persists in sabotaging her hope of reconnecting with her children. So that his two daughters, aged 16 and 14, and his son, aged 12, can obtain asylum, Canada requires that the siblings produce their biometric data, a condition which forces the children to travel to the consulate Canadian from Beirut, Lebanon.
The 110-kilometer journey, strewn with military checkpoints, leads to an uncertain outcome: overwhelmed by the massive influx of Syrian refugees fleeing their poverty and the galloping inflation that aggravates it, Lebanon is now deploying its army to border to control comings and goings.
Syria’s economy is in free fall, weighed down by corruption, inflation that the World Bank estimates at 60% for 2023 and a brutal devaluation of its currency which has caused the value of the Syrian pound to decline, which is no longer worth than CA$0.0001.
“My children cannot go to Lebanon alone,” their mother said. It costs too much money and it’s too dangerous for them. On the other hand, if they cannot come to Canada, they will find themselves on the street and will not have anything to eat. I’m very worried. »
Three children alone in Damascus
For 10 years, Marwa Rifai has only seen Rinad, Rital and Yazn through the impersonal screen of her phone. The war broke up her family, her ex-husband gaining sole custody of the children while Marwa found refuge in Turkey, with her relatives, to escape the fate reserved for her missing brother.
When flying to Quebec in 2016, Marwa Rifai had to abandon her children to their father. A year ago, the latter left Damascus in a hurry to end up in Senegal, entrusting the three teenagers to his new partner – already the mother of as many little ones. Six children were too heavy a burden for her: exhausted and ill, she prepared to join her brother in Egypt. Departure date: November 7.
The three children that this woman gave birth to will be on the trip, those of Marwa Rifai will remain, once again, behind. This time, there will be no one left to collect them.
The situation condemns the two teenage girls and their little brother to the sidewalk, their mother fears, since their entire family has fled Syria. Since their father’s death, there are no relatives left in Syria to take care of them.
Their mother, in Quebec, has been knocking on all the doors of the federal apparatus for a year to try to resolve the impasse. A tweet to Justin Trudeau changed nothing; neither did repeated calls to Immigration Canada and the minister. Marwa Rifai found a little hope in the office of her MP, the liberal Joël Lightbound.
“We have been trying to resolve the impasse for about a year,” says Claudine Boucher, constituency assistant in the MP’s office and responsible for Marwa Rifai’s file. We are using all means at our disposal to try to make Immigration Canada understand the urgency of the situation and its extraordinary nature. This is not an ordinary sponsorship story and, in extraordinary situations, extraordinary solutions are required. »
Possible exemptions
The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act provides for exemptions from the requirement to produce biometric data. An official also has the power to exempt a file from this imperative if he judges that the circumstances justify it.
The Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees, ratified in 1969 by Canada, recommends that governments “ensure the maintenance of the family unit of the refugee” and guarantee “the protection of minor refugees, in particular isolated children and Girls “.
Ottawa recognizes the dangers that abound in Syria. “In addition to the threats linked to war, terrorism, crime, arbitrary detention, torture and forced disappearances by the Syrian regime are continuing threats,” writes the government. If you find yourself in Syria, you should consider leaving if you can do so. »
Marwa Rifai would like to follow this last piece of advice wholeheartedly and as soon as possible. In Damascus, her children are brooding, the youngest repeats her desire to leave alone on the sea to reach first Europe, then America, to find her mother.
“They have negative thoughts and they feel left to their own devices,” explains Marwa Rifai. Here, at least, my children would be with their mother and their family, they could study, have a better future. »
Two tears roll down his cheeks as he talks about this future woven with hope in Canada. Her future here will only have meaning if she can build it with her children.