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, www.letrawadstay.com, 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.

When Rawad's letter of denial was received on August 30th, it stated, in bold, that “If you do not leave Canada voluntarily, enforcement action may be taken against you.”

Aita el Chaab was to be Rawad's destination, if he were deported. On October 1st, New York Times reporter Michael Slackman wrote, “Terms like flattened, crumbled and collapsed barely describe what happened to Aita el Chaab, a Hezbollah stronghold in the south. The landscape is a canvas of destruction, 750 homes destroyed, 400 damaged. Communities have been uprooted, families forced to crowd in with relatives, schools shattered.” Of the 750 homes destroyed, four belonged to Reda’s aunts.

Sami Hermez, a Lebanese-American doctoral student of anthropology at Princeton University did fieldwork in Lebanon and had been to Aita el Chaab. “There is a sad and disturbing culture of violence emerging quickly from the rubble. In Aita el Chaab we saw kids playing ‘Israel and Hizballah.’ There were dead kids on the floor, little girls shooting at boys, boys with sticks and toy guns, and a level of hyperactivity that was aggressive and unhealthy,” he wrote in his diaries.

Immigration Canada, soon enough, realized that Aita el Chaab was no place to send anyone, especially a student who managed to earn several awards, lead the Multicultural club, and raise large sums of money for the United Way and AIDS in Africa; all while maintaining
his marks.

Of course, without support from thousands, and articles featured in The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, The Globe and Mail, and several broadcasts on different news programs, Rawad would have likely been deported. “Honestly if it weren't for the support I got from Jarvis and the community, without my lawyer’s work, and the support from the Members of Parliament, staying in Canada wouldn’t be possible,” said Rawad.

In addition, many of Rawad's friends, mainly Jarvis graduates, helped him build a website. “To spread the word, they put the website together and helped me moderate it; they also helped with all the e-mail campaigns,” said Rawad.

Grade 11 student, Matthew Nguyen, another Jarvis student who had immigration problems similar to Rawad's earlier this year, was also able to renew his permits through student action and teacher advocacy. "It is important to build a campaign, have your voice brought up to the government. The government is not perfect, that's why we need people to gather together and point out the government's flaws that need to be changed," said Nguyen.

The key factor in winning the two battles against the unjust decisions of the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration was undoubtedly student action. It generated solidarity at the community level and beyond, to put sufficient pressure on Immigration Canada to allow the two cases to ultimately succeed. "I hope students will look to these successes as incentive to get involved, and realize that they can make a huge difference," said Rossos.

One institution that did not support Reda was Georgian College, the college where he was enrolled before the threat of deportation. “Their excuse [for not supporting me] was that I was no longer registered at the college. I was arguing that other colleges, universities, elementary schools and high schools that I had no affiliation with supported me; I just saw no reason why they couldn't support my cause,” said Rawad. “In the end I just gave up on them.”

Now that Rawad has his permits renewed, he isn’t certain if Georgian College is right for him. “The biggest reason that I’m reconsidering is because of what I had to go through; this has been the ultimate experience of my life and I feel that I have to do something about it,” said Rawad. He is now considering a social sciences program at a Toronto university.

Rawad held a celebration for his supporters at Lux Lounge on October 25th. As the celebration came to a close, Rawad thanked everyone. "Words can't properly express my gratitude for your kindness, generosity, and support you availed to me during my recent ordeal. When my future in Canada looked bleak and uncertain, you offered your support," said Rawad, "I now have the opportunity to build a life for myself."

The temporary study and residence permits given to Rawad will expire in a year, and must then be renewed. Rawad and his supporters are confident that Immigration will make the proper decision next year.