Refugee recounts journey to Canada

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This article was published 08/02/2024 (588 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Annour finally felt safe when he trudged across the Canada-U.S. border into Manitoba on a chilly December day, two months after he’d embarked on a peril-filled odyssey to flee persecution in Africa.

The 28-year-old said he decided to risk his life on a notorious migrant route to reach Canada, because his political allegiance put him at risk of being imprisoned or killed in his native Chad.

“At this moment, I’m afraid to live there because there’s no security,” Annour, who declined to give his last name, told the Winnipeg Free Press through a translator on Wednesday. “I feel good being here.”

The asylum seeker travelled some 20,000 kilometres — by plane, boat, vehicle and foot, often having to pay thousands to human smugglers — before arriving in Winnipeg.

Some migrants are kidnapped, extorted or killed along the route. Annour broke down in tears while discussing the people who hadn’t survived.

At one point, he said he was held at gunpoint by soldiers in Mexico.

“I said I must continue because everywhere I could go, apart from Canada, is not safe,” he said in French, one of Chad’s official languages. “The people who are coming for the border, there is a lot of suffering on the journey.”

Manitoba RCMP officers who patrol roughly 500 kilometres of the international border have recently seen an increase in Chadian citizens trying to cross the border illegally in their bid to seek refugee status in Canada.

On Dec. 9, four men from Chad were found after walking into Emerson, about 100 kilometres south of Winnipeg. One was hospitalized with serious weather-related injuries.

The RCMP’s integrated border enforcement team discovered seven men from Chad on Jan. 27, when officers stopped a rented vehicle driven by an alleged human smuggler who lives in Calgary.

The men were picked up after walking into Emerson along a rail line.

The 49-year-old driver — Saleh Badawi Youssouf — was charged with human smuggling.

Court records show he has been charged with assault, assault by choking and unlawful confinement in Calgary for an alleged incident in June 2023. A trial is due to begin in July.

Canadian and U.S. authorities have reported increases in illegal crossings since the COVID-19 pandemic began to ease. People are often fleeing conflicts, persecution or economic hardship. Some have small children with them.

Some are rescued just in time.

“Our main goal is preservation of life — the safety and security of these people,” said Cpl. James Buhler of the border enforcement team.

In January 2022, a family of four from India froze to death in a field east of Emerson, while trying to walk into the U.S. in a blizzard at night.

RCMP officers intercept people on a weekly basis, but some make it through without detection, said Buhler.

He said it’s common to find migrants who’ve travelled from South America or paid up to US$30,000 to smugglers.

Some crossings have suspected links to organized crime.

Those who are intercepted undergo background checks by the RCMP. If they’re not wanted for crimes, they’re turned over to the Canada Border Services Agency for immigration processing, said Buhler.

Under the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement, people who enter between ports of entry are to be turned back to the U.S., if found within 14 days, to make an asylum claim there. Limited exceptions allow claimants to remain in Canada.

In October, Annour left Chad’s capital city, N’Djamena, where he worked as a lab technician. The country has been in turmoil since longtime president Idriss Deby was killed in 2021.

Annour said he was an organizer with an opposition party since targeted by the ruling junta that seized power in the north-central African country.

In 2022, security forces opened fire on people who were demonstrating against the military regime, killing and injuring hundreds, according to human rights groups.

Political opponents were detained and opposition parties suspended.

Annour travelled to Turkey, Colombia and Nicaragua by air before the dangerous journey to the Mexico-U.S. border. He crossed into Arizona and spent time in New York before travelling to Minnesota.

After being dropped off near the Canadian border, Annour and six other men walked through a forested area into southeastern Manitoba Dec. 14. He’s not sure where they were.

Wearing winter clothing, they waded through a stream and trudged through snow.

“It was very, very cold,” he said.

Annour, who said he paid US$1,000 to a smuggler, and the others walked for about three hours before being picked up. In Winnipeg, a taxi driver suggested he go to the Salvation Army’s Centre of Hope, at 180 Henry Ave., for shelter.

“It’s quiet, peaceful,” he said about Winnipeg. “The most paramount is having security. I can go anywhere without anyone harassing me.”

At Winnipeg’s emergency shelters, there has been a spike in refugee claimants since the fall.

The Centre of Hope housed about 40 in October. The total has tripled to 120, including families with children, said executive director Mark Stewart.

Of those, some made the perilous walk across the border.

Stewart isn’t sure what led to the increase. He said no one will be turned away, despite increased pressure on the shelter.

Salvation Army officials have had discussions with the provincial government about adding beds. The organization is waiting to see how much Manitoba will receive, after the federal government last month announced more than $360 million to help provinces and cities cope with the rising number of refugee claimants.

Stewart encouraged Manitobans to be compassionate and consider the hardships claimants have faced in their own countries.

“The people that are coming here, they don’t want to leech off of the system,” he said. “They want to work. They want to have safe, clean housing.

“They want to create better lives for themselves. You would think those are the people that we want here.”

Stewart said shelters need more government support.

The RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency and local officials have urged asylum seekers not to cross between ports of entry. The weather and terrain can be unforgiving, and it is easy to get lost.

“You’re really risking your life,” said Buhler.

» Winnipeg Free Press