Decision reserved on deportation delay for former child refugee
HALIFAX — The sister of former Somali child refugee Abdoul Abdi said Thursday she was feeling hopeful after a Federal Court heard her brother’s emergency request to temporarily halt his deportation proceedings.
“He would not be in these circumstances if it wasn’t for the government,” Fatouma Abdi said outside court in Halifax. “I hope that they correct their mistake and that they don’t go forward with the deportation.”
Abdoul Abdi, who never got Canadian citizenship while growing up in foster care in Nova Scotia, was detained by the Canada Border Services Agency after serving nearly five years in prison for multiple offences, including aggravated assault.
Abdi’s lawyer, Benjamin Perryman, said federal officials turned down the 24-year-old’s request to press pause on a deportation hearing while he pursues a constitutional challenge.
Abdi then asked the Federal Court to temporarily halt the deportation hearing — scheduled for March 7 — and Perryman made arguments on his behalf on Thursday.
The former refugee was not in court because he had to work — one of the conditions of his release to a Toronto-area halfway house.
Justice Keith Boswell reserved his decision, but said he would likely rule before the hearing next month.
Perryman argued that going ahead with a deportation hearing while Abdi’s constitutional challenge is ongoing will cause irreparable harm.
He said the Immigration Division hearing will inevitably lead to a deportation order given the circumstances of Abdi’s case. He said the independent division can only look at criminal records and citizenship status — Abdi was convicted of crimes and isn’t a Canadian citizen — and cannot look at other possible factors in his case, including international human rights law and the Charter.
“What we’re asking for is some analysis, some consideration of the issues, particularly in the context of a child who grew up in the care of the state and was effectively denied citizenship by the failures of multiple governments in the country,” Perryman said.
Heidi Collicutt, a lawyer for the federal government, argued that Abdi’s request prematurely anticipates an unfavourable outcome at the immigration admissibility hearing, and it would not be appropriate to stop an independent body from carrying out its statutory mandate.
She said if the division rules against Abdi, he still will have some options, including obtaining a temporary work permit and asking for a judicial review.