In other words, you couldn't make up a story like this!
http://www.canada.com/montreal/news/story.asp?id={13469C4B-96E3-4468-AC1D-1261B18585A8} Running out of chances Couple among many now unable to appeal after refugee claims rejected
| IRWIN BLOCK | |
| Montreal Gazette |
There is little hope for a gentle couple and their toddler in the federal government's new refugee determination rules announced this week.
Both Mohammad Moniruzzaman and Song Hang-Hi have been refused refugee status. Both face deportation to a destination unknown.
He is a Bangladeshi Muslim, she is a South Korean Jehovah's Witness, and they met and married in Dacca.
They fear physical persecution in his native Bangladesh, where mixed marriages are shunned.
He cannot work in South Korea or stay there for more than six months.
What will happen to the couple and their Montreal-born son Hasibzaman, age 2?
"Who will take care of my wife? What will happen to our family?" Moniruzzaman sobbed yesterday at their tidy Cte des Neiges apartment.
"We will have to separate," said a stoic Song.
Their plight focuses attention on the lack of a formal appeal process once a refugee claim is refused. Though there are still some avenues to keep them in Canada, formal appeal is not one of them.
Advocacy groups were hoping Immigration Minister Denis Coderre would reverse a decision announced last month to delay creation of an appeal process. But he won't, arguing it's not feasible now because of a backlog of 45,000 refugee claims.
If such an appeal process had been in place, this family could have argued the merits of their claim before a competent refugee-appeals division, said their lawyer, Mitchell Goldberg.
"There could have been a quick determination as to whether there were flaws with the first decision," Goldberg said.
Irwin Cotler, the Liberal MP for Mount Royal, said yesterday he, too, is concerned and has met with non-governmental groups like Project Genesis on this issue.
"I have conveyed these messages to the minister and supported them.
"He said to me there will be an appeals process in place within a year. He said, 'that is a public commitment of mine' and putting in the appellate review process now would be doomed to failure (because of the backlog)."
In the interim, a failed refugee claimant can go to the Federal Court, Cotler noted. He agreed only a small number get the right to be heard, and then only on technical issues.
Song Hang-Hi's and Moniruzzaman's status hinges on her getting a chance to argue before the immigration department. But the acceptance rate is only 2 per cent, Goldberg said.
Both also filed last July a joint claim to remain in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
If this is denied, they can apply for a judicial review to Federal Court.
To Goldberg, the delay in implementing an official appeals process can be tragic.
"There are thousands who are going to be affected by this in the next year, people who won't have an appeal. We're talking about life-and-death decisions in many cases."