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NDP Pushes to Open Doors to Refugees in Wake of Trump Ban

Refugees afraid of US deportation are risking an icy death to reach Canada on foot.

Jeremy Nuttall 1 Feb 2017TheTyee.ca

Jeremy J. Nuttall is The Tyee’s reader-funded Parliament Hill reporter in Ottawa. Find his previous stories here.

Razak Iyal would have called for rescuers to pluck him from the frozen darkness of the prairie night, but his hands were too cold even to pull his cell phone from his pocket and dial 911.

Iyal and another man from Ghana, Seidu Mohammed, had set out on a 10-hour journey through snow and over fields trying to get to the safety of Canada after having their refugee appeals rejected in the United States.

Recovering in hospital after losing almost all his fingers to frostbite, Iyal explained how he made the crossing into Canada from North Dakota in sub-zero temperatures.

“We knew it was cold, but we didn’t know it was that cold,” Iyal said. “In the middle of the journey, that’s where we started feeling the cold.”

The pair spent hours trying to flag down passing cars in the darkness before a truck driver stopped. He saved their lives, Iyal said.

His story is becoming more common. On Tuesday, the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, which helps refugees, said that since last week asylum seekers have been pouring into Canada from the U.S., fearing deportation back to their home countries.

The organization opened 10 new files on Monday alone.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 120-day ban on all refugees Friday. He also imposed a 90-day ban on all immigration from seven countries, including Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.

The New Democrats called on the Liberal government to ease regulations on refugees to help those in the wake of Trump’s chaotic refugee ban.

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan told reporters Tuesday the ban promotes hatred and intolerance. She also successfully pushed for an emergency debate in Parliament on how Canada should handle the ban, scheduled for Tuesday evening.

“This ban will have a disastrous effect for thousands of innocent travellers and refugees,” she said. “Women and children who are fleeing persecution are not going to be able to find the safe havens that they deserve.”

Kwan said the Liberal government needs to change its policies because refugees can “obviously” no longer get a fair hearing in the U.S. and proposed a number of immediate actions.

The NDP proposals include fast tracking refugees who had been accepted by the U.S. but were now denied admission as a result of Trump’s ban. The government should also raise the cap on privately group-sponsored refugees, currently limited to 1,000 people.

And Canada should suspend its “Safe Third Country” agreement with the U.S., Kwan said. The agreement says Canada is not required to accept refugee claimants who travelled through the U.S., because they had the opportunity to seek asylum there. A number of groups, including the BC Civil Liberties Association, have called on the government to suspend the agreement since Trump’s order.

Iyal’s Winnipeg lawyer, Bashir Khan, also wants the agreement gone. It violates the spirit of the United Nations’ 1951 refugee convention, which says countries like Canada cannot turn away people who show up at their borders seeking asylum.

Khan said he worries desperate people trying to cross into Canada will meet an even worse fate than his client. “It’s only a matter of time before we hear something more serious, perhaps a loss of life,” he told The Tyee.

Iyal said he had heard good things about Canada from friends in New York and after being denied asylum in the U.S. decided to make the journey.

Iyal didn’t want to talk about why he was seeking refugee status, concerned it could affect his March refugee hearing in Canada.

But he fears he will be killed if he is sent back to Ghana, he said.

“In the states we hear about Canada, we hear how people talk about Canada,” Iyal said. “They are good people and willing to help any refugee who have a problem in their country.”

A Border Services Agency spokesman said he wouldn’t speculate on the consequences of more refugees battling freezing conditions to get to Canada on foot.

But Iyal said he hopes those who do brave the icy temperatures and winds trying to reach safety will be helped by officials.

He has been offered food, blankets and other help since his story first hit the news.

In hospital recovering from the loss of his fingers, Iyal said that in his long journey from Ghana that began in South America, Canadians have treated him the most decently.

“They encouraged me, they gave me hope,” he said. “That’s what makes me see something different in Canada, in the people of Canada.”  [Tyee]

Read more: Rights + Justice, Politics

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