A Toronto woman and her son who were facing deportation after living in Canada for 19 years are now being allowed to stay for three more months as their lawyer takes their fight to federal court.
On Friday, just hours after CBC News reported that Nike Okafor’s family faced being torn apart as she and her eldest son were ordered to return to Nigeria, the family’s lawyer received a letter from the Canada Border Services Agency granting their request for a deferral.
Okafor, 39, and her 21-year-old son Sydney, who was born in Nigeria, had been bracing to say goodbye to her Canadian husband and two children who were born in this country. They were to report to Toronto’s Pearson Airport on July 26.
“Having considered your request, I am of the opinion that a deferral of the removal order is appropriate under the circumstances,” the CBSA’s letter says. However, it adds that the agency has an obligation to carry out deportations “as soon as reasonably possible.”
Okafor and her son had been in Canada for nearly two decades before she received a deportation order this past May.
‘My whole life is here’
All this time later, she never imagined that she would be ripped from her husband and two of her children — all Canadian citizens — and forced to return to the country she fled.
Instead, the mother of three once again found herself fighting for her future, as well as that of her son, who arrived with her at the age of two all those years ago. She was pregnant with her second child at the time.
“If I have to go back, it will end my life,” Okafor said through tears. “I’ll be separated from my husband, I’ll be separated from my Canadian children, I don’t know how I can live.”
“My whole life is here.”
WATCH | ‘It will end my life,’ says mother facing deportation after 19 years in Canada:
‘Please let me stay here,’ says mother facing deportation after 19 years in Canada
15 hours ago
Duration 1:55
After nearly two decades in Canada, Nike Okafor is facing deportation to Nigeria despite having a Canadian husband and two Canadian children, amid delays in processing her spousal sponsorship application. The mother of three speaks to CBC Toronto about her wish to stay in the country.
Okafor came to Canada as an asylum seeker in 2003. A Muslim, she’d had a son with a Christian man and says she feared the boy would be taken from her amid religious tensions in Nigeria’s north. She fled to secure a future for them both, she told CBC News.
Her refugee claim was denied but as Okafor appealed and tried to find a way to stay, life went on. She said she was told to stay in close touch with the CBSA over the years and did so.
In the meantime, she put herself through school, found employment as a personal support worker, had two Canadian-born children, met the man she would marry and built a future she never thought possible back home.
But that future was nearly cut short.
‘Very, very unjust’
This past April, Okafor and her son, who are currently in Canada without status, suddenly received a deportation order from the CBSA. That’s despite her husband filing a spousal sponsorship application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) more than two years ago.
WATCH | This Canadian may have to say goodbye to his wife as she faces deportation:
This Canadian citizen may have to say goodbye to his wife as she faces deportation
15 hours ago
Duration 1:29
Rotimi Odunaiya’s wife, Nike Okafor, is facing deportation to Nigeria after living in Canada for 19 years after delays in the government processing her spousal application. He speaks to CBC Toronto about the message he has for the government.
According to the federal government’s website, the average processing time for spousal sponsorships is 15 months. Okafor has been waiting 28 months already and says she would have long been a permanent resident if not for the delays.
It’s a situation that Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, calls “very, very unjust.”
“I think that most Canadians, when they look at these situations, they think that this doesn’t make any sense, and of course, how is it that one part of the government is kind of undermining the efforts of the other? Don’t they talk to each other?” Dench said.
“And basically the answer is that, no … at least, not on individual cases.”
Dench said while a case like Okafor’s involves both the CBSA and IRCC, the two departments work according to their specific mandates, the former focused on law enforcement and the latter selecting and facilitating new residents.
Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, calls the situation Okafor and her son are facing ‘unjust.’ (CBC)
The IRCC’s website says one of the ministry’s goals is “family reunification.” Still, there appears to be no mechanism to prevent the CBSA from removing someone even if they have a family-class-related permanent residency application underway, as is the case for Okafor and her son.
Dench said she’s hopeful that will soon change, noting the federal immigration minister’s mandate letter calls on him to look into broadening options for undocumented workers.
“We’re hoping that the government will see the opportunity to really regularize a very large number of people and to put an end to this kind of contradiction,” she said.
Family reunification a ‘pillar’ of immigration system
In a statement to CBC News, IRCC said Okafor and her son’s application for permanent residence is “in queue for review” and will be met with an “objective review.”
The department would not say how long the wait will be and said time frames for processing some applications may vary due to the “unique nature” of each case. It also did not explain how someone with an application under review could be given a deportation order or whether the IRCC communicates with the CBSA to prevent such situations.
“Family reunification is a fundamental pillar of our immigration system, and IRCC works to process applications for permanent residence expeditiously while conducting all verifications required under the law,” the statement said.
The CBSA told CBC News “the decision to remove someone from Canada is not taken lightly.”
There are “a variety of reasons” that might prevent a removal order from being enforced expeditiously, it said. Having a Canadian-born child does not prevent a person from being deported, however it added “the CBSA always considers the best interest of the child before removing someone.”
With time running out for Okafor and her family, Toronto-based immigration lawyer Vakkas Bilsin hopes the spousal sponsorship will be approved in the three months that the family has been granted. (CBC)
With time running out for Okafor and her family, Toronto-based immigration lawyer Vakkas Bilsin has brought the case before the federal court and hopes the spousal sponsorship will be approved in the three months that the family has been granted.
“Knowingly sending Ms. and Mr. Okafor into the inevitable, serious and irreparable harm that awaits them in Nigeria is merciless and goes against every fibre that Canada’s immigration and refugee system and Canadian society was built on,” Bilsin wrote in a recent application calling on the CBSA to defer their deportation.
Speaking to CBC News, Bilsin said he’s seen no explanation for why the CBSA is opting to remove the two all these years later.
“I think she deserves to be in Canada. She might not have permanent residency but she’s Canadian in heart.”
‘We would have to restart our lives’
As their deportation date approached, Okafor’s eldest son tried to make sense of what it would mean to leave behind the only country he’s called home.
Enrolled in a sports management program at Humber College, he had no idea if he’d be in Canada to see it through. He worried too about his younger siblings who look up to him.
As their deportation date approaches, Okafor’s Nigerian-born son Sydney, now 21, is trying to make sense of what it would mean to leave behind the only country he’s called home. (Paul Borkwood/CBC)
“If we had to leave, we would have to restart our lives,” he said. “It wouldn’t be right.”
Okafor’s husband, Rotimi Odunaiya, a Canadian citizen who she’s been with for 10 years and married for about five, said the family has been living one day at a time, hoping the government will step in to keep them together.
“Somebody who has already lived a life here, up to two decades… contributing to society, working as a PSW — it’s not a joke,” he said. “If somebody says this cannot happen in Canada — yes, it does happen.”
“We’re a family,” he said. “Don’t split us.”
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
The Canadian Hockey League is looking to capitalize on the sport’s cross-border rivalry by having its top draft-eligible prospects face USA Hockey’s National Development team in an annual two-game series starting in November.
Unveiled on Tuesday by the CHL, the series is being billed as the CHL-USA Prospects Challenge with this year’s games played at two Ontario cities — London and Oshawa — on Nov. 26-27. The CHL reached a three-year deal to host the series, with sites rotating between the group’s three members — the Ontario, Quebec Maritime, and Western hockey leagues.
Aside from the world junior championships, the series will feature many of both nation’s top 17- and 18-year-olds in head-to-head competition, something CHL President Dan MacKenzie noted has been previously lacking for two countries who produce a majority of NHL talent.
“We think we’ve got the recipe for something really special here,” MacKenzie said. “And we think it’s really going to deliver for fans of junior hockey who want to see the best payers of their age group play against each other with something on the line.”
A majority of the CHL’s roster will be selected by the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau.
The Michigan-based NTDP, established by USA Hockey in 1996, is a development program for America’s top juniors, with the team spending its season competing in the USHL, while rounding out its schedule playing in international tournaments and against U.S. colleges. NTDP alumni include NHL No. 1 draft picks such as Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes.
For the CHL, the series replaces its annual top-prospects game which was established in 1992 and ran through last season. The CHL also hosted a Canada-Russia Challenge, which began in 2003 and was last held in 2019, before being postponed as a result of the COVID pandemic and then canceled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The success of USA Hockey’s program has really evolved and sort of gets them in a position where they’re going to be competitive in games like this,” MacKenzie said. “We’re still the No. 1 development league in the world by a wide margin. But we welcome the growth of the game and what that brings to the competition level.”
The challenge series is being launched at a time when North America’s junior hockey landscape could be shifting with the potential of NCAA Division 1 programs lifting their longstanding ban against CHL players.
A lifting of the ban could lead to a number of CHL players making the jump to the U.S. college ranks after finishing high school.
MacKenzie called it difficult for him to comment due to the litigation and because the CHL is considered an observer in the case because it was not named in the lawsuit.
“My only comment would be that we continue to be a great option for 16- to 20-year-old players to develop their skills and move on to academic or athletic pursuits by being drafted in the NHL, where we’re the No. 1 source of talent,” MacKenzie said. “And we’re going to continue to focus on that.”
BOSTON (AP) — Runners hoping to qualify for the 2026 Boston Marathon are going to have to pick up the pace.
The Boston Athletic Association has updated its qualifying times for the world’s oldest annual marathon, asking most prospective competitors to run a 26.2-mile race five minutes faster than in recent years to earn a starting number.
“Every time the BAA has adjusted qualifying standards — most recently in 2019 — we’ve seen athletes continue to raise the bar and elevate to new levels,” Jack Fleming, president and CEO of the BAA, said in a statement posted Monday. “In recent years we’ve turned away athletes in this age range (18-59) at the highest rate, and the adjustment reflects both the depth of participation and speed at which athletes are running.”
The BAA introduced qualifying times in 1970 and has expanded and adjusted the requirements through the decades. Runners participating in the event to raise money for charity do not have to meet the qualifying standards.
The latest change means men between the ages of 18 and 34 will have to run a marathon during the qualification window in 2 hours, 55 minutes or faster to earn a spot in the 2026 race — five minutes faster than for this year’s edition.
Women and nonbinary applicants need to complete the distance in 3:25.
The slowest competitors that can earn qualification are in the 80 and over age group. The men in that category must complete a marathon in 4:50, while women and nonbinary competitors have 5:20 to finish. Those numbers were not changed in the most recent adjustment.
The BAA said it had 36,406 qualifier entry applications for next year’s race, more than ever before.
“The record number of applicants indicates the growing trend of our sport and shows that athletes are continuously getting faster and faster,” Fleming said.
The qualifying window for the 2026 race began on Sept. 1 and will run through the conclusion of the registration period of that race next September.
Next year’s Boston Marathon will take place on April 21.
MONTREAL – Former Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators defenceman Chris Wideman announced he’s retiring after six NHL seasons on Tuesday.
Wideman spent his last three seasons under contract with the Canadiens, but did not play during the 2023-24 campaign due to a back injury.
The 34-year-old said in a letter released by the Canadiens that he made several attempts at rehabilitation and sought a variety of treatments before deciding to hang up his skates. He finishes his career with 20 goals and 58 assists in 291 games.
Wideman, a five-foot-10, 180-pound blueliner, started his NHL career with the Senators in 2015-16. He played parts of four seasons in the nation’s capital before he was traded in 2018-19 to the Edmonton Oilers, playing five games in Alberta before moving on to the Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks organizations.
During the 2020-21 season, he played in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League and was named the league’s defenceman of the year.
Wideman returned to the NHL the following season and produced a career-best 27 points (four goals, 23 assists) in 64 games with the Canadiens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
