Rawad Wins Reprieve (page 1 of 2)
Rawad Reda addresses students, staff, and media in the Jarvis Rotunda. Click image to enlarge.
Students and staff rally to support Jarvis grad - by Pedram Mossallanejad
On Friday October 6th, 2006, Rawad Reda, former Jarvis student, finally received a call after facing deportation from Canada for over a month; an Acting Director at the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration informed Rawad that he could stay in Canada with his fully renewed temporary study and residence permits.
“Certainly it was the happiest day of my life. I got the phone call on Friday morning and I was so happy even though it was [then] unofficial. Now I can think clearly; the nightmare is over, and this whole problem is gone,” said Rawad. On the following Monday, the official documents were mailed to him.
For the entire month of September, hundreds of people pressured Immigration Minister Monte Solberg to “let Rawad stay.” On Rawad's website alone, 578 messages were posted supporting him: most were e-mailed to Minister Solberg.
Other supporters included Members of Parliament Olivia Chow, Omar Alghabra, Bill Graham, and Paul Szebo. Organizations supporting Rawad included the Toronto Youth Cabinet, the Canadian Arab Federation, Palestine House, and the Political Action Committee at our teachers’ District 12 union. This was in addition to the hundreds of Jarvis students and staff who supported him.
Ms. Rossos, a Jarvis teacher, who, in Rawad's words, “led the team,” said, "I made a couple of suggestions and phone calls, but it was the students that really led themselves; their immediate action and organisation
was incredible."
On September 28th, shortly before Rawad's permits were renewed, a press conference in the Jarvis rotunda attracted more than a 100 students and many news agencies, notably Global, CBC, TFO and OMNI and the Globe and Mail.
Chantal Desloges, Rawad's lawyer, argued at the press conference that Rawad arrived in Canada when he was only 15 and had no control of the situation. Currently, he is under 22 and therefore considered
a dependent child according
to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website. Desloges called the case “a stunning
example of the triumph of bureaucracy over common sense.”
Rawad's application for permanent residence status on humanitarian and compassionate
grounds, filed two years prior, was pending. Immigration Canada, however, could still deny renewal
of his permits and, if inclined, enforce his deportation. “The problem is that when you apply on the basis of humanitarian
and compassionate grounds, they can still proceed to deport you regardless
of the merit of your case,” said Ezat Mossallanejad, a policy analyst at the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture who has assisted Desloges in refugee protection
cases in the past.
JargOnline 2006 - 2007 
