Warning: Readers may find details of this story disturbing
The scars on Eva Rose’s left wrist and forearm tell part of her painful journey.
As a transgender, Syrian refugee who was abandoned by her family, she has attempted to take her own life. At times, this seemed like her only path to internal peace.
As Rose tries to speak about her suicide attempt, tears stream down her face.
The emotion of the memory too heavy to share. So much of her story is strewn with suffering, abuse and abandonment.
When ISIS took over Rose’s eastern Syrian village near the Iraqi border in 2014, she says a terrorist militant forced her to perform sexual acts. She was told only then that she would be safe.
“I was forced to do things against my will…or my life was at risk,” she told CTV National News.
When asked what ISIS normally does to members of the LGBTQ2S+ community, Rose runs a finger along her throat. “They cut your head off.”
The 23 year old arrived in Canada as a refugee on June 6. after spending the last several years living as a transgender refugee in Turkey. Rose was ecstatic when the UN Refugee agency told her she’d be moving to Canada.
“When I found out I was coming to Canada I knew as an LGBTQ person I would be able to live freely here.”
While she remains grateful to the government and Canadians across the country, Rose says her vision of a free, open life has so far been shattered. When she arrived she was sent to live in a Toronto area hotel with other refugees who she says verbally abuse her daily because of her sexual orientation.
During her first meal, two other refugees said to her “If we were back home in Iraqi people like Saddam Hussein would finish all (you) people by beheading them. Unfortunately here in Canada they protect people like you,” she recalled.
Rose says deep rooted cultural and religious bias against members of the LGBTQ2S+ community means she will find little comfort or sense of community from other refugees, even those from her own country.
Refugee advocate Mona Elshayal has watched as Rose has become withdrawn, sitting in her hotel room all day.
“I’ve seen the way people treat her, and point at her, and laugh at her like she’s a child bullied in a playground, by adults. Imagine how that feels, the fear of just stepping out of your hotel room,” says Elshayal.
The federal government has made repeated promises to vulnerable refugees coming to Canada from around the world. In August, as Canada closed its embassy in Kabul, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeated his government’s pledge, this time to the people of Afghanistan, saying the commitment to “woman and girls, the LGBTQ communities remains unwavering.”
However, Rose doesn’t believe the government has upheld their promise to people like her once they finally arrive, saying her stay at the refugee hotel makes her “feel like a criminal, but what is my crime? I’m just LGBTQ, I haven’t done anything wrong.”
The refugee hotel where Rose is currently staying is run by an organization called Polycultural, which is contracted out by the federal government, and paid taxpayer dollars to help care for and resettle refugees.
Elshayal says when the issue of Rose’s safety in the hotel was brought to the attention of Polycultural staff, “they just kind of laughed it off and said do you want us to have security guards surround her everywhere she goes, and I think they took it as more of a joke than taking things seriously.”
CTV National News spoke with Polycultural’s executive director over the phone Monday. He said the organization is now looking to move Rose to another hotel, that doesn’t house other refugees. The move would be a temporary fix, as they work to find her a more permanent place to live.
In a statement to CTV National News from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the department, in part, says: “The safety and security of the refugees temporarily staying in hotels is paramount. As we previously indicated, IRCC is in constant contact with service providers to ensure they’re meeting refugees’ needs, from sharing information to adding resources. This includes daily updates to IRCC on activities in the hotels.”
The IRCC says its currently following up with Polycultural about this specific situation.
For Rose, she says she simply wants to live her life freely, and embrace her new country and all it has to offer.
The following is a list of resources and hotlines dedicated to supporting people in crisis:
Hope for Wellness Helpline (English, French, Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut): 1-855-242-3310
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
