Nigerian family fleeing female genital mutilation given Jan. 8 to depart Canada in failed asylum application

Posted by admin Canadian Politics, Headlines Thursday, December 26th, 2019

A family at risk of being deported has discovered that misleading legal advice may be the cause of their pending deportation.

Three weeks ago, the Bakare family — who fled Nigeria in 2017 out of fear their daughter would be subjected to female genital mutilation — were supposed to be deported.

Instead, the day they were supposed to leave, Rasheedat Bakare collapsed — she’s six months into a high-risk pregnancy — so the the government issued a temporary delay.
At the time, they didn’t know how long the delay would be in place. They’ve since been told they’ll have to leave Jan. 8, 2020.

But Rasheedat and her husband, Afeez Bakare now say they’ve been misled by their legal representative at the time who advised them to withdraw their appeal after their previous refugee claim was denied, and instead file a humanitarian and compassionate grounds application.

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“I put in a notice of appeal but this legal practitioner told me I shouldn’t appeal the case. She had me withdraw my notice of appeal and put in an application for agency instead of an appeal,” said Afeez. “Because she is my legal practitioner, I believed she knows more than me … but she misled us, which brought us to this mess.”

After learning about the family’s case, Nicole Arghandewal, an immigration & refugee caseworker at Lewis and Associates Law, felt that she and her firm could provide the Bakare family some assistance.
Nicole Arghandewal, an immigration & refugee caseworker at Lewis and Associates Law, felt that she and her firm could provide the family some assistance with their case. (Tahmina Aziz/CBC)
Arghandewal reviewed their paperwork and realized something was wrong.

“Unfortunately, people who withdraw their appeals … are losing that right to remain in Canada … and they will become subject of removal,” Arghandewal said.
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According to the Canadian government website, filing a humanitarian and grounds application “will not prevent or delay your removal from Canada.”

“The Bakare family’s application for permanent residence under humanitarian and compassionate considerations is presently in process. Average processing times for this type of application is currently listed at 31 months. It is important to note that this type of application does not prevent removal,” said Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) spokesperson Beatrice Fenelon.

Arghandewal said what the Bakares were advised to do is “negligent and harmful.”

“It is … very negligent and harmful … to advise a person [to] withdraw their one and only appeal and one and only application which still gives them some kind of status to remain in Canada and suggest [to] them to go with an application where they will face removal almost immediately,” said Arghandewal.
Afeez Bakare, left, and Rasheedat Bakare, right, continue to plea for the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) to reconsider their case. (Tahmina Aziz/CBC)
Rasheedat and her husband continue to plea for the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) to reconsider their case.

Similar cases

“They’re not the one and only family in this situation,” Arghandewal said, adding that there are dozens of other families in the community who are also facing deportation after being lied to by immigration and legal professionals, including Itohen Loveth Obasuyi, a single mother of three who also fled Nigeria in 2017.

Obasuyi — who’s on social assistance — was told by her legal representative at the time that she had to pay to file an appeal, but didn’t have the financial means to do so.
Itohen Loveth Obasuyi, a single mother of three who fled Nigeria in 2017, says she was circumcised twice. (Tahmina Aziz/CBC)
By the time Obasuyi found out that this wasn’t true, she had missed her deadline and is now subject to removal.

Arghandewal said without the help of IRCC and CBSA, there is “little chance” for the Bakare family — or anyone else in the same situation — to stay in Canada.

“We are trying to do everything,” she said, adding that it’s dangerous for Rasheedat to fly on a plane in her present condition and hopes she can deliver the baby safely in Canada.

CBC reached out to the family’s former legal representative but she has not responded to our request.

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