Specifics Required

Another inexplicable decision by Canadian Border Services Agency.  Unless and until, that is, the reason for its decision - to remove a young man with a family who works for a living and contributes to the country's tax base - is revealed and makes good sense and can be supported.  What cannot, on the face of the situation be supported, is that after eight years of living in Canada and finding a life for himself Haitham Albabedieh has been served with a deportation notice.

Mr. Albabedieh's wife is Canadian.  His two children, born in Canada, a thirteen-month-old and one a few weeks old, are Canadian.  Their father is their sole source of financial support.  Let alone the fact that he is their father, husband to their mother, and they are wholly emotionally and socially dependent on him.  There is another child, a young daughter whose mother is Mr. Albabedieh's first wife, and they too live in Canada.

What is the purpose and the sense of depriving three young children and a woman of their breadwinner and loving husband and father?  All the more absurd as Mr. Albabedieh's wife Theresa, has initiated the process of sponsoring him for Canadian permanent residence status.  And where is he to be deported to?  Gaza, that bastion of freedom-loving territory governed by a terrorist group threatening the security of its neighbour.

Mr. Albabedieh's parents originally were Palestinian Gazans, long before Hamas came to power there.  His parents had gone to live in Dubai, and that is where 38-year-old Mr. Albabedieh was born, was raised and educated and where he was employed when he met his Canadian wife.  Their daughter was born with a congenital condition and they were advised to remove to Canada where medical treatment would be available for her.

The marriage did not survive, and Mr. Albabedieh met another woman who became his second wife and with whom he has had two very young children, mentioned above.  Citizenship and Immigration issued a "Pre-Removal Risk Assessment", stating that the young man would "not be subject to risk of persecution, danger of torture, risk to life or risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment" were he to be sent to Gaza.

That conclusion is a questionable one, given the violence and turmoil in Gaza, a foreign place for Mr. Albabedieh, where he has never lived other than for a brief two-week visit with his grandmother who does live there.  Ordered to leave or be deported in 2005, his work visa has nonetheless been renewed on eight occasions.  He has worked for that period of time, never resorting to social welfare.

He has no current passport and was instructed by CBSA to apply for one from the Palestinian Authority office located in Ottawa.  "The problem is" he explains, "that the Palestinian Authority has no jurisdiction in Gaza, just the West Bank.  Gaza is controlled by Hamas and they don't talk to each other."  He will eventually be issued a passport once processing is completed: "How long will it take?  I don't know and they don't know."

Perhaps six months, perhaps longer.  And his sponsorship for legal status leading to potential citizenship in Canada?  That application will likely take six months or longer to process, but the family has no idea whether CBSA is prepared to wait out the process.  "They just want to close my file and get rid of me."  Understandable, he is on a 7-year-old list of deportees and should have left long ago, but the system allowed him to remain.

Some things have changed in the interim.  He has become accustomed to living in Canada.  There are few other options for him; he cannot return to Dubai where he has no status.  He is married now to a Canadian woman.  He and his wife share a deep emotional bond in caring for two dependent infants.  He works hard at fairly menial occupations, determined to support his family.  He is young and adaptable, and his children will be part of the Canadian future.

"But it's a difficult situation and it's stressing me and my wife out especially when we are working hard to care for our children."  For its part, when queried, CSBA does not discuss specific cases, though admitting deportation is "not taken lightly".  Nor should it be.  But why, in this particular case is deportation the leading option?

Surely if there is a reason it should be stated, and unequivocally.  Mr. Albabedieh appears to be the kind of immigrant that Canada could well benefit from welcoming, and Mr. Albabedieh appears to value the opportunity to become an integral part of the Canadian population.  What's the problem here?