A political fugitive who fled Congo under death threats and torture begs Ottawa to allow him to send his seven children, who were the targets of the arson, home as soon as possible.
“Even give these children a humanitarian visa,” pleads Michael Maswa, 43, fighting back tears. Can you imagine if we woke up and our kids were charred? »
Feeling helpless, this father recently wanted to take his story to the Journal from his small north Montreal apartment to challenge the federal government.
In front of the couple in the living room, a 2-year-old boy tries to get their attention. The latter doesn’t yet know what his older siblings are going through on the other side of the Atlantic.
On March 9, seven of the political refugee’s eight children were burnt down in Congo-Kinshasa, where they still live, according to a police report consulted by Le Journal. Luckily they were all saved in extremis.
“It is a disaster. It’s not easy,” breathes Félicité, the children’s mother.
He was “stuck”
Mr Maswa believes his children have been spotted and are victims of criminals trying to exploit his relatives.
“I don’t want her to get discouraged,” he said, rubbing his reddened eyes and gesturing at his sweetness. What is more precious than children? »
It is that whoever was previously a senior Congolese official had to leave everything behind in 2017, including his wife and children, who were only 2 to 14 years old at the time. He passed through Nigeria and the United States before landing in Canada.
“I had to flee alone. If I had stayed there I would have died. I was a man to beat. I was tortured and stabbed in the back,” he says without batting an eyelid.
According to him, he was “put on the record” by the government because of his political beliefs. Shortly thereafter, his wife came to him in America after she had been beaten herself. Their children were then entrusted to a relative.
Long Delays
In 2021, her application for asylum was accepted as a political refugee.
And since January 2022 they have been trying to get their children back. However, the delays would become unsustainable.
“First we said to ourselves that it was the administration, there was nothing we could do about it. Because of this slowness, we are in this situation. It shouldn’t take longer than six months,” regrets Mr. Maswa.
He hopes the urgency of the situation can speed up the process.
“The children are in danger there. We have to find a way to drop whoever is now an Uber driver. My fear is what will happen tomorrow. »
Without commenting on this filing, Immigration Canada claims to be “sensitive to emotional distress” caused by the problems of cases involving children. The ministry suggests notifying him of emergencies, which Maswa says he has done. Since then he has been waiting for an answer.
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