In memorial

Its been a while since I updated my blog.
I wish it was in happier circumstances that I wrote this.
I have been working at the Halifax Refugee Clinic now for 4 weeks. Today when I got into work I was informed that one of the refugees had disappeared after leaving a suicide note, that all of his things in his room and that they were continuing to search for him.

This refugee was from Eritrea where where he had been part of the army, which is known for having committed serious human rights abuses. After having tried to desert the army and being recaptured and forced into retraining, this man left the country leaving his life and his family behind. He was found inadmissible for refugee status in Canada as a result of his involvement in the army, despite the fact that there is documented evidence that if he returned to Eritrea he would be tortured and killed.

The law making people who are suspected of being involved of major human rights abuses makes a lot of sense on its surface, Canada probably doesn't want people to seek asylum here from legal repercussions resulting from actions which they perpetrated in their home countries. However, this line of logic assumes that the countries where these people are coming from have just non corrupt legal systems that don't inflict torture and death on their prisoners and returned refugees. Sending someone accused of human rights abuses to a country where they almost certainly will face torture and death seems to follow the same logic as the death penalty, which is flawed at best. In such cases arguably it would be better for Canada to exercise universal jurisdiction and detain and hear the case of the individual hear and in the case of a guilty verdict also detain them here to avoid such unthinkable situations.

The day that this refugee disappeared was the same day that he was supposed to have a meeting with Canadian Border Services Agency to begin the process of deportation (a flight risk assessment).

At 1:30 this afternoon the clinic got a call informing us that the refugee had hung himself in Clayton Park.