Somali Criminals Find Haven In Canada

"The removal of convicted, repeat offenders is an enforcement priority."
Canada Border Services Agency

"[Abdilahi Elmi] has committed extensive crimes within Canada and is considered a danger to the public."
Mylene Estrada-Del Rosario, spokesperson, Canada Border Services Agency

"My future has been just living day to day in a cell, year after year. This is not life at all. I want to be a better person ... I know that I have made a lot of mistakes in my life that I can't take back and I am not a bad person."
"I am a kind, helpful, and loving person."
Abdilahi Elmi, 34, Somali refugee, Edmonton

Abdilahi Elmi

"This is a violation of human rights."
"Here we are, a year later, and we see that this is still continuing for people who have been in the child welfare system."
"It's a very simple ask: why can't we change the law? It's past time to change the law to ensure that all children in care receive their citizenship."
El Jones, Halifax activist

Community activists El Jones and Kate Macdonald talk to reporters Tuesday at MP Andy Fillmore’s office in downtown Halifax. They were part of a group of about a dozen calling on federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to stop the deportation of Abdilahi Elmi to Somalia, scheduled for Wednesday. - Francis Campbell

Now an adult, Elmi arrived in Canada from his home in Somalia with his family, escaping the never-ending violence in that violently dysfunctional society. He was ten years old when he arrived, 24 years ago. Soon afterward he was brought into foster care in Ontario. It was somehow overlooked by officials to register him as was commonly done, for permanent residency. Aside from which he has been living over the succeeding decades as a permanent resident. One who could, of his own initiative, have made a late application and applied as well for citizenship, but never did.

During those years of residency as an adult, the man amassed a long record of various criminal charges including assault. It is the assault charges that have led to his deportation as a non-citizen of Canada. The Canada Border Services Agency ruled on June 26 that Elmi be deported to Kismayo in Somalia at some late date in August. Last year there was a similar case of another former child refugee from Somalia who was on the cusp of removal back to Somalia as an adult whose criminal activity in Canada moved authorities to launch similar extradition proceedings.

Abdoul Abdi however, was ultimately permitted to remain in Canada when a Federal Court judge in Halifax overruled a a decision referring the case to a deportation hearing.  El Jones had been an involved activist in that case as well. The Somali community argued against his removal and pleaded for humanitarian grounds on his behalf, despite his long criminal record in Canada, insisting his life would be in danger, he would be isolated in his country of birth and vulnerable.

In this latest case Abdoul Abdi's sister, Fatuma Abdoul expressed disappointment that the resolution of her brother's impending deportation being overturned to be an indication that despite a lack of citizenship former child refugees would no longer face deportation as a result of their criminal activities in Canada. "Obviously, nothing has changed. We're making a plea for [Elmi] and trying to save his life", she observed righteously with the obvious expectation of entitlements for criminal offences committed by non-citizen Somalis.

Supporters mostly from among the Somali immigrant/refugee community assisted by others in sympathy, claim Elmi deserves a reprieve in the face of "certain death" in Somalia, with no relatives and a language he cannot comprehend. A language he undoubtedly spoke fluently until age ten when he arrived in Canada. The portrayal of Somalia as a dangerous place to live is not entirely misplaced, but millions of Somalis live in the country at various levels of society and one more arriving cannot equate with impending death for the poor unfortunate.

"No one is saying that he didn't commit criminal acts. We're saying that the payment for that should be prison and not deportation", stated Jones of the man who arrived in 1994, age ten, granted refugee status with his family, taken into foster care at 13, living on the streets at age 16, involved with drugs and criminal behaviour, an ongoing burden and threat to Canadian society. An online petition has garnered 3,400 supporters on the change.org site where a note from Elmi explains that alcohol had clouded his judgement.

Robert Wright. Photo Robert Devet

"When a child is made a permanent ward of a provincial jurisdiction, they have effectively been adopted by this country. It is our failure to provide adequately for our children in this state that results in their lack of education, their criminalization and their bumpy transition into a healthy and productive adulthood."
"It would be a travesty of justice and a great shame to our country if we did not intervene right now."
Robert Wright, Halifax social worker

Demonstrators chant in MP Andy Fillmore's constituency office advocating for a stay on the deportation of Abdilahi Elmi to Somalia during a protest in Halifax on Tuesday, August 20, 2019. Included in the group advocating for the stay was Fatuma Abdi, the sister of Abdoul Abdi, the former refugee youth in care who successfully stayed his deportation.   Darren Calabrese / THE CANADIAN PRESS