A former child refugee facing deportation to Somalia has been freed from custody in Edmonton, after advocates and the United Nations successfully pressured Canada to stay his removal from the country.The release of Abdilahi Elmi, 34, comes after almost six months of detention in Edmonton following a high-profile — and as yet unresolved — battle with the Canada Border Services Agency. Elmi escaped Somalia’s civil war as a 10-year-old boy. Despite gaining refugee status in Canada, he never acquired citizenship while under the care of children’s aid in Toronto. His lawyer says foster care officials submitted an application for permanent residency on his behalf, but the paperwork was incomplete and never approved. CBSA declared Elmi “inadmissible” in the country after he served a six-month sentence for assault last year. As a result, he faced deportation to Somalia, one of the most volatile countries in the world. In August, the Canadian government voluntarily complied with a UN Human Rights Committee request to suspend the removal order. Elmi was released from custody Friday following his monthly immigration detention review hearing. He will now move to a treatment centre for rehabilitation. “He’s feeling so happy, he’s feeling so relieved. He feels like he’s very overwhelmed and he feels very supported,” said Dunia Nur, president of the Edmonton-based African Canadian Civic Engagement Council, an organization that advocated on Elmi’s behalf for over a year.“The next steps for Mr. Elmi are rehabilitation, community reintegration and family reunification.”Elmi experienced significant trauma from an early age, Nur added, having survived civil war and the loss of his father and grandmother as a young boy. As a new refugee in Toronto, he was separated from his mother and placed into foster care. At 15, he was living on the streets and struggling with substance abuse. “His story is ...
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