Family deported to Libya wins return to Canada
Ruling ends four years of exile for refugee claimants
The tortuous journey of the Benhmuda family is over. They can finally come home.
The family learned Friday that Cana- dian immigration officials have decided to allow them back into Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
That ruling ends more than four years of exile, which began when the Mississauga family lost their bid for refugee status and were deported to Libya in 2008.
“This is a victory,” said Adel Benh- muda, 44, now living on the Mediterranean island of Malta.
“We were all crying and screaming with joy.
“You know the feeling of coming home after many years of fighting,” he added in a phone interview. “That’s how we feel.”
The long battle included his torture after deportation and decisions by Canadian immigration officials slammed as biased by a Federal Court ruling last October.
“This is finally a measure of justice for the family,” says their lawyer, Andrew Brouwer. “We’re anxious to see that the visa is issued quickly so they can finally come back to Canadian soil. I can’t see any reason for a delay of more than a few weeks before they get here.”
Benhmuda, his wife and their two sons fled to Canada from Libya in 2000. Libyan police had been harassing and beating Benhmuda, trying to learn the whereabouts of his brother, who was part of a group fighting Moammar Gadhafi’s dictatorship. The family claimed refugee status. Benhmuda juggled two jobs and his wife, Aisha, gave birth to two more sons before their claim was rejected in 2008. They were deported to Libya when it was still in the grips of Gadhafi. Benhmuda was detained on arrival and jailed for a total of six months on two separate occasions.
He says prison guards regularly bound his bare feet, strung him up in the air and beat his soles with batons and electrical wires. The family then fled to Malta and spent nine months living in a shipping container before being granted refugee status and moving to an apartment. In February 2011, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees formally asked Canada to resettle them as refugees.
The case came to national prominence when the Star wrote of the family’s ordeal in June 2011. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney insisted Canada does not deport people to torture and promised to give the family’s request to return to Canada “every humanitarian consideration.”
But in November 2011, their request was tersely rejected. Brouwer appealed to the federal court.
In October, Federal Court Justice Mary Gleason ruled that Canadian visa officials in the Rome office failed to give the Benhmudas a fair hearing. Gleason pointed to evidence indicating that “the entire Rome visa post had reached the conclusion that the applications were to be dismissed, before they had even been submitted.”
Gleason ordered that a different visa office review the case within 90 days and awarded the Benhmudas $5,000 in court costs. On Friday, Brouwer received an email from Canada’s visa office in Paris saying the application to return to Canada was accepted. Immigration spokesperson Julie Lafortune said she was unable to confirm the decision. She added in an email that Kenney was not available for comment.
Benhmuda’s four sons — aged 9 to 17 — immediately began searching for the few Canadian dollars they still possess. “They are putting together their toonies and loonies,” Benhmuda notes. “Some want to buy Timbits; everyone is making plans.” In Malta, Benhmuda is unemployed. But his former employer at an optical lab has promised him a job when he returns to Canada. Brouwer hopes the family’s ordeal will force change in Canada’s immigration system. “People are being deported, including Canadian children, to places where no right-thinking Canadian would ever want them deported to.” Also flawed, he says, is the process that determines whether it’s safe to deport failed refugee claimants. In Benhmuda’s case, officials ruled it safe despite seeing a 2004 summons from the Libyan government ordering Benhmuda to appear at a police station. The bias showed by Canadian visa officials in Rome further indicates the urgent need for better training, Brouwer says. “This was a really compelling example of just how awry things can go. We cannot assume that every visa officer is going to actually be an independent, impartial and fair decision-maker. There’s a very serious lack of oversight over the visa posts.” Also helping the Benhmudas in their battle was Ingrid Kerrigan, a Mississauga kindergarten teacher who taught two of the Benhmuda children. More than 15,000 people signed her online petition asking the government to allow the Benhmuda family back in the country. In Malta, the Benhmuda family is still absorbing the news. “I think I’m still dreaming,” Aisha says. “In Canada there is the (rule of) law,” she adds. “If you have rights, you will get those rights (respected), no matter how long it takes. That is why we want to live in Canada.”