A 21-year-old Jamaican scholar athlete in Ontario says his household could possibly be in grave hazard if Canadian authorities proceed with deportation.
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Tamarri Lindo, a top-ranked hurdler at York College and Canada’s primary indoor hurdler within the under-23 class, advised CTV Information that being compelled again to Jamaica may have lethal penalties.
“Actually, I believe will probably be demise,” Lindo mentioned. “It sucks that I’ve to say it goes to that excessive, however I positively assume it might probably be demise. As a result of in the event that they ever discover out that we’re there, will probably be lots of penalties.”
Lindo arrived in Canada in April 2019 along with his father, George Lindo, stepmother Jilandre, and youthful sisters Tameah and Tamarli. George Lindo sought refugee standing, claiming the household was focused by gangs in Jamaica due to his political ties to the opposition Folks’s Nationwide Occasion (PNP). He mentioned he survived three assassination makes an attempt and repeated threats.
“It acquired so dangerous that at occasions they’d come out to the home searching for us,” Tamarri recalled. “Essentially the most traumatic expertise I’ve ever had was after I was within the automotive with all my siblings, going to high school, they usually have been threatening us to remain dwelling or they have been going to shoot up the automotive with all of us in it.”
Final yr, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) denied the family’s asylum claim, ruling there was not sufficient proof that the threats have been politically motivated. A senior immigration officer famous that violent crime is widespread in Jamaica and argued that “any danger they face just isn’t personalised.”
The household’s lawyer, Aidan Simardone, strongly disagrees. “We’re not speaking about generalised violence,” he mentioned. “We’re speaking about somebody who’s being particularly focused due to their political work. George was a member of the opposition. He was serving to out the opposition. He was focused for that purpose.”
After public stress, the federal government granted the household a one-year extension, however elimination proceedings have now resumed. The Canada Border Companies Company scheduled an interview for earlier this week. There’s no phrase but as to if or not the household was deported.
Simardone famous {that a} humanitarian and compassionate grounds software has been pending for greater than two years, nevertheless it doesn’t cease deportation.
For Tamarri, the looming uncertainty threatens not solely his Olympic goals but in addition the protection he has felt in Canada.
“After I got here up right here, I felt the primary little bit of security I’ve ever felt in a really very long time,” he mentioned. “Actually, I don’t know what I might do. I don’t even know the place I’d begin. I might simply be fully damaged.”
