Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 26, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba a6 Winnipeg free press saturday August 26, 2006 saturday special George Douklias / Winnipeg free press Sarfraz Kausar and Hassan Raza rear live with their children Mohsin holding baby see Maume Farva Hassan Zain and Rubab front in Crescent fort Rouge United Church. Freedom is not Freedom in Pakistan. We feel Safe Here ? Hassan Raza through translator Kenny Chahal we Don to condone people hiding in churches. There Are various Levels of Appeal. Once there san order to leave Canada people Are expected to comply ? Loretta Nyhus Casa spokes woman High Hopes a teenage girl and her family find Sanctuary in a Church but dream of Safe life in Canada by Gabrielle Giro Day i to not easy being 13 years old. Its especially Tough when you can to go to Junior High school and live in an Osborne Village Church you re trapped in at the risk of arrest and deportation. Meet Rubab Raza the plucky teen currently tangled in Bureau cratic and judicial immigration proceedings that dominate her family a life. Lead by her Pakistan born parents Hassan Raza and his wife Sarfraz Kausar Rubab and the rest of her family have been living in Crescent fort Rouge United Church on Wardlaw Avenue since aug. 3 when a judge ordered them deported from Canada. The fight for the Razas future in Canada has made Rubab and her family a topic of discussion with protective Church officials carefully trying to cloister the family from the hard Fate that May await them. But Rubab Wise for her age already knows the Long Road ahead. My birthday is in october. We could be Here she says casually while giving a tour of her newfound Home. Betraying her age the conversation quickly skirts to Candy ? her worries far away from the religious persecution her parents said they fear in Pakistan. My poor dad. His birthday is in october but its near halloween so we sometimes forget we gather All the stuff we get and give it to on wednesday the Entrance to the Church a administrative offices normally open to Visi tors remained locked under the vigilant super vision of White haired volunteers who shuttled paint cans from Church reception rooms to Cre ate space for the family. The Razas have forged an unusual existence in a place where they store most of their House hold possessions in garbage bags and Many of their Basic needs Are fulfilled by the kindness of people who had previously been strangers. I a really attached to my schoolwork said Rubab of the classes she Likely wont be Start ing next week with the rest of her Peers unless Hopes for Home schooling at the Church come through or the children Are allowed to leave the Church to attend classes. I a kind of Church organs with her understanding of English and Pun Jabi the sole member of her family with a firm grasp on both languages the teen who is currently amusing herself by learning How to play phantom of the opera on Church organs Sud Denly seemed the least self conscious spokesperson for the Bunch. Perhaps Rubab sensed the High Hopes her parents pin on her Success. The oldest of a Brood including Mohsin 12, Zain 7, ume Farva 6, Hassan 4, and baby Seema Rubab a four youngest siblings were born outside Pakistan after her parents fled the country eight years ago moving from the . To Canada. Rubab Raza according to her father is a Symbol of All the reasons the family should be allowed to stay in Canada. Hassan Razas employer Raj Pandey of apr industries has lauded him As a diligent worker who a supported his family by painting Wood stoves at the fort Richmond factory. But when Hassan is asked through a translator what his family a most valuable possessions Are he delicately pulls two pieces of paper from a leather folder he keeps in a bag at his feet. They re my academic achievement certificates explained Rubab who later says Art is her Favourite subject in her St. Vital school and proudly displays sketches of paper dolls Wear ing Navel bearing outfits and High heeled shoes. The sketches which Rubab admonishes her younger siblings for scribbling on Are a far cry from the school textbooks Hassan Raza prizes retrieved from the Raza family residence by friends after the family members abandoned their Home following the deportation order. The family a application to remain in Canada is based on fears of persecution Raza said the family would experience in Pakistan As shia muslims a country where outbreaks of Vio Lence often flare Between Muslim sects and groups. International human rights organizations like amnesty International have recently expressed concerns about rising Levels of Sec tarian violence in Pakistan where at least 4,000 people Are estimated dead in violence. Freedom is not Freedom in Pakistan said Hassan Raza through his translator Friend Kenny Chahal. We feel Safe but a spokeswoman for Canada Border ser vices Agency Casa said nothing legally pre vents officials from entering a Church and removing those who flout deportation orders. Loretta Nyhus Casa spokeswoman said she cannot comment on specific cases but con firmed she was aware of the Razas situation. We Don to condone people hiding in churches she said adding there was a fair Legal process to consider thousands of applications before the courts each year seeking refugee status. There Are various Levels of Appeal she said. Once there san order to leave Canada people Are expected to Hassan Raza who Speaks halting English said his formal education went no further than the Canadian equivalent of Grade 3, while Sar Fraz said she completed education until Grade 11, with a specially in Home economics which helped her hone her skills As a seamstress. Much of the family a clothing is Home made Sarfraz Points out proudly a far cry from her shy responses about the family a future. We Don to know How Long Well be Here until the time we Don to get the papers she said through a translator. While Sarfraz can under stand English conversations around her she said caring for six children has made it hard to learn the language. For now the family a Hopes ride on a Community that has emerged to try and persuade min ister of citizenship and immigration Monte Solberg to intervene and assist directly in the family a plight. Rev. Barb Janes the Leader of Crescent fort Rouge Church said thursday she was unable to discuss the nature of a meeting planned for sept. 8 Between United Church of Canada officials and Solberg a representatives. It could be a Long process said David Matas the human rights and immigration lawyer that is assisting the Razas to obtain a judicial review of their immigration Case. Get Ting a judicial review could take months if its even granted he said and Rubab and her family May be trapped in the Church until Winter ? or beyond. Sanctuary cases other notable Canadian Sanctuary cases since the first Case occurred in Montreal in 1983, there a been an estimated 40 to 45 incidents of migrants seeking Sanctuary in Canadian religious institutions involving More than 250 people. Some experts estimate up to 70 per cent of those who Are sheltered in religious institutions obtain promises of Long term status in Canada. August 2006 a family of eight moves into Winnipeg a Crescent fort Rouge United Church to avoid a deportation order from a Federal court judge. As of this weekend the Raza family has lived in the space for 23 Days. Canada Border services Agency said arrest warrants for those ignoring deportation orders can be executed at any time regard less of where individuals Are located. July 2004 Judy Sgro then min ister of citizenship and immigration is criticized for her remarks condemning Church Sanctuary As the Back door to Canada. Spokespeople for the United Church As Well As other religious bodies condemn Sgro a stance. An expert estimates the United Church is involved in providing Sanctuary in one third of cases reported in Canada. March 2004 police enter a United Church in Montreal and arrest an algerian Man Mohamed Cheri who had been living there for More than a year. Cheri a human rights activist in Algeria said he feared returning to his country after speaking out against the regime. It is the first time in Canadian history police carry out an arrest for a migrant in a religious Sanctuary a Prece Dent profoundly troubling for Many immigration activists. December 1983 a guatemalan Man seeks Sanctuary in a Montreal Church and is eventually granted a stay of deportation ;