‘Snowden’s Guardian Angels’ living in fear
Whistleblower’s Hong Kong helpers plead with Canada to fast-track refugee process
OTTAWA— A group of Hong Kong asylum seekers who sheltered the American surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowdenin 2013 is calling on the Canadian government to speed up its refugee applications in the face of concern they will be imminently detained, deported and separated from their children.
The group’s legal team, which consists of lawyers in Hong Kong and Montreal, accused Canadian officials of reversing a decision in April to expedite the refugee applications of the so-called “Snowden’s Guardian Angels.” They told reporters on Parliament Hill the asylum seekers would face possible arrest, torture or death if they are deported to their home countries of Sri Lanka and the Philippines, and are demanding an explanation from Ottawa about why the cases aren’t being fast-tracked.
The lawyers plan to submit a motion in federal court on Tuesday to force the government to hear their cases as soon as possible.
“It’s unacceptable, and it’s immoral,” said Marc-André Séguin, one of the lawyers representing the four adults and three young children hoping to come to Canada. He suggested Justin Trudeau’s government, which has branded the country as a haven for refugees, is at risk of contradicting its own welcoming rhetoric. Human Rights Watch has also called on the government to fasttrack the applications.
“We invite (Trudeau) to review his messages, to look at the photos of these three children,” Séguin said, “and to ask himself the question: do these people deserve a future?”
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Ahmed Hussen, whose department handles such applications, was not available for an interview Monday, according to his office.
In an emailed statement, Hussen’s spokesperson Hursh Jaswal said the minister has not made any promise to expedite the Hong Kong claimants’ applications. He said the government is committed to making sure every case is “evaluated based on its merits and in a fair manner,” but declined to comment further because of “privacy laws.”
The asylum seekers have been in Hong Kong for several years and live on meagre government stipends, said Michael Simkin, another lawyer working on the case. He said that, like all asylum seekers in Hong Kong, they are barred from legally working or even begging on the street.
Robert Tibbo, a Canadian lawyer who represents dozens of asylum claimants in Hong Kong, connected Snowden with the group in 2013. The intelligence leaker hid with them in their homes for two weeks before flying to Moscow, where he remains today.
The worry now is that, in the glint of worldwide attention for their involvement with Snowden, the asylum seekers will be deported from Hong Kong before Canada reviews their refugee claims. But they may also be in danger in Hong Kong — their lawyers said they’ve relocated their clients several times out of fear that Sri Lankan security forces are trying to find them.
The claimants are: Ajith Kankanamalage, a former soldier who was allegedly tortured in Sri Lanka; Nadeeka Kuttige and Supun Kellapatha, who are also from Sri Lanka and have two children under age 6 who were both born in Hong Kong; and Vanessa Rodel, a single mother of a 5-year-old daughter who told the Star she fled her home in the Philippines in 2003 after being kidnapped and sexually assaulted.
The group lived in obscurity until last year, when a blockbuster film about Snowden hit theatres and included a scene about how they hosted the American intelligence leaker in the Hong Kong underworld.
Tibbo said Monday that, since then, they’ve been “singled out time and time again” by the Hong Kong government. The immigration department there is also pushing to get him removed from their case, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.
But what’s giving the situation more urgency now is an order by Hong Kong officials to have the asylum seekers check in at a detention centre for immigrants — in Rodel’s case by August 1.
In an interview with the Star on Monday, she said she fears she will be separated from her daughter, who was born in Hong Kong, and deported back to the Philippines where she fears her life will be in danger.
Rodel said she wasn’t given an ex- planation about the sudden order to report to Castle Peak Bay immigration detention centre.
“They said they don’t know. I am very, very scared — very, very upset,” she said.
The three other adult asylum seekers received similar notices to report to the detention centre in early August, according to a letter of demand detailing the situation that was sent to Minister Hussen last week and which was provided to the Star.
“Once they’re removed, any screening or any decision by the Canadian government will be moot,” Tibbo said.
“We fully expect Canada to intervene for these extremely vulnerable clients.”
Simkin and Séguin said their promised legal action represents the “last hope” for the asylum seekers. In January of this year, they set up a notfor-profit agency called For the Refugees to sponsor the claimants and bring them to Canada. According to their letter to Hussen, Canadian consular officials told them in April that the refugee applications would be expedited.
The lawyers said they repeatedly reached out to Canada’s immigration minister and other officials over the ensuing weeks, but learned on July 7 that the applications are actually being processed at the routine speed — a process that could take years, Séguin said.
The lawyers say that timeline is out of the question, given the orders to report to the detention centre.
Simkin told reporters in Ottawa that it’s unclear why Canadian officials appear to have changed course on the claimants’ applications, but said any politically motivated decision based on their links to Snowden would be unfair.
“We cannot use these families as a proxy for punishing Edward Snowden,” he said.
Rodel said she wants to come to Canada because it has a reputation for respecting human rights.
“I am hopeful we get in Canada,” she said, “especially for our kids.”
Simkin and Séguin said it is possible the case will be heard in Montreal later this week.