Léon Mugesera could finally face deportation to Rwanda on January 12. This comes almost eight years after the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled that he is inadmissible to stay in Canada because he helped incite the Rwandan Tutsi genocide.
But the Quebec City resident, who has been fighting expulsion from Canada since 1995 and has been in legal limbo since the 2005 Supreme Court decision, is circulating an email to drum up support from friends – and he has hired a lawyer to launch more legal action.
Mugesera said he received notice from the Citizenship and Immigration department in early December that his time in Canada is fast running out.
He remained in Canada tenuously since being stripped of his permanent resident status for his role in the 1994 Tutsi genocide.He argues he would face persecution and torture if he is sent back to Rwanda.
He hired lawyer Johanne Doyon to attempt to quash the latest decision, but in the meantime was told by the Canada Border Services Agency, which carries out expulsions, that his deportation is imminent.
“This means that the Federal Court could render its decision at a time when I am already under torture and facing an atrocious death at the hands of my political enemies in power in Rwanda,” Mugesera wrote in the email.
“I would thank you if you could act on my behalf as urgently as possible. I am very uncomfortable asking you this during the holiday period.”
Doyon, who began representing Mugesera in mid-December, called the short notice of the deportation date “unbelievable” and is preparing a motion for a stay to suspend the deportation while he fights another round.
“We got notice on Dec. 27, oral notice, that the deportation was Jan. 6. We called back and said a week and a half is not reasonable,” she said, noting the date was then moved up to Jan. 12. “He arrived here (20) years ago, it’s shocking the rush of this.”
Doyon said the government is not providing enough time to seek a judicial review to quash the most recent decision and stay the deportation.
“The file is years and years, boxes and boxes, it’s not possible to challenge the decision in such a short time,” Doyon said.
“His argument is a matter of life and death and persecution. Enemies use allegations of genocide to apply torture and persecution. He has valid grounds to challenge.”
Although the Supreme Court long ago branded Mugesera persona non grata, she said there are new legal issues at stake in his renewed legal bid that could see his case come full circle.
“Being inadmissible under the law on immigration and losing your permanent residency status is one thing. That point has been decided,” Doyon said.
“Being repatriated to your country of origin and being at risk of persecution or cruel and inhumane treatment is another thing – completely different legally and practically speaking. The Supreme Court has never ruled on that.”
Mugesera’s fate has remained uncertain for the better part of a decade while he sought final recourse with a pre-removal risk assessment. Carried out by senior officials at the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, PRRAs are a stay of deportation available to anyone ordered removed from Canada, including war criminals and terrorists, if they believe they could face death or torture if repatriated. The decisions are not public but can be appealed in Federal Court.
While the years have ticked by, Rwanda’s ambassador to Canada has demanded Mugesera’s return so he can face justice as the country seeks to come to terms with the 1994 genocide through a series of war crimes tribunals. Rwandan victims of the genocide in Canada also have grown frustrated with the slow process to rid Canada of a painful reminder of the slaughter.
Mugesera is wanted to stand trial in Rwanda for a 1992 speech widely viewed as a clarion call to the genocide in which he called ethnic Tutsis “cockroaches” and stated: “Anyone whose neck you do not cut is the one who will cut your neck.”
In his speech, rebroadcast at the height of the 1994 bloodbath, he referred to Tutsis using an ethnic slur, and advocated throwing them into the Nyabarongo River – a veiled reference to a 1959 mass murder of 20,000 Tutsis.
However, Mugesera has long argued his political enemies are out for revenge that would be exacted once he sets foot in Rwanda.
The Canada Border Services Agency would not comment specifically on Mugesera’s case, but said the government is committed to ensuring those involved in crimes against humanity are not given safe haven in Canada.
“It is the CBSA’s responsibility to enforce the law. The removal of inadmissible individuals is key to maintaining the integrity of the immigration program and to ensuring fairness for those who come to this country lawfully,” said spokesperson Esmé Bailey.
“Everyone ordered removed from Canada is entitled to due process before the law and all removal orders are subject to various levels of appeal.”
source:Montreal Gazette
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