From a Country in Chaos to 13 Years Without Status

Farah Kulmiyeh Abdil fled the war in Somalia in 1990 to claim refugee status in Canada. His permanent residence was revoked in 1992 due to a criminal record for which he has already served jail time. Since there is a moratorium on deportations to Somalia, his deportation has been blocked and he has been living in legal limbo ever since. Living without status and without the right to access education or work, he has been forced to the margins of society to live in constant fear and anxiety, without legal or social recognition. Farah, who is HIV positive, would be deprived of treatment by being deported to Somalia. His pending deportation is a death sentence! Thousands of immigrants and refugees find themselves awaiting deportation and refused status by an immigration system that creates an underclass, deprived of all rights, to be exploited! As the war in Somalia intensifies, so does the war on immigrants and refugees! Devastated by fourteen years of civil war, Farah shares the feelings of persecution that his community feels. Driven to desperation, he took action on 12 June in solidarity with his people and all immigrants and refugees as part of a struggle for self-determination. -- We refuse to be invisible; we refuse to live in fear. We demand an end to all deportations! We demand STATUS FOR ALL!