Montreal, 6 September 2023 — Mr. S. was released this morning from the Laval migrant prison. He will shortly be reunited with his wife Fatima after two and a half months of detention. Mr. S was detained and threatened with deportation as a refused refugee. The new federal Immigration Minister, Marc Miller, intervened to stop the deportation and keep the couple together while their spousal sponsorship is processed.
“This is an extremely happy day for both of us. I have suffered a great deal in my life but what the CBSA put me through in the last months has been the worst. Now we will be united and have a chance to live our lives in peace,” said Fatima, who put in a spousal sponsorship for her husband over a year ago.
Just six hours before he was due to be deported, Mr. S. received news that Immigration Minister Miller had issued a temporary residence permit (TRP) which would allow him to remain in Canada until his spousal sponsorship. This came after both the Federal Court and the United Nations refused to stop his deportation. A vibrant public campaign called on Minister Miller to intervene to keep the couple together.
“Although the violence and trauma inflicted on the couple by Canada’s immigration system may never be fully erased, we hope that the community support and solidarity they received over the last weeks will help them heal. We encourage others facing exclusion and imprisonment as migrants to join the fight for migrant justice,” Solidarity Across Borders said in a statement released after the deportation was stopped.
On Sunday, 17 September, Solidarity Across Borders will join other members of the Migrant Rights Network across Canada and in Europe to demand Status for All, and specifically implementation of the long-awaited regularization programme for undocumented migrants without further delay and an immediate end to deportations and detentions.
A rally will take place at 2pm in front of Marc Miller’s office at 3175 Saint-Jacques (adjacent to Lionel Groulx metro).
