Nigerian woman living in Canada Idayat Saka, denied residency, could be deported because she had a baby.

A Nigerian, Idayat Saka who works in Toronto as a health-care worker did exactly what her doctor told her to do to protect herself and her baby. The 33-year-old mother of four stopped working at the beginning of her third trimester of pregnancy due to “high-risk” complications from prior cesarean births.

What Saka couldn’t have known at the time was that her decision to stop working when she did would later be used by an immigration officer to deny her permanent residency in Canada.

This rejection means Saka, her husband and two of their children could soon be deported to Nigeria. Her youngest sons, ages three and one, can’t be deported because they’re Canadian.

“I was crying. I was done,” Saka stated to Afrotimes News, explaining the heartbreak she felt when her application to remain in Canada was rejected. Saka and her husband are failed asylum seekers.

They came to Canada in October 2017 after they say their lives were threatened by gunmen in Nigeria. These claims were later dismissed.

After they arrived in Canada, Saka went back to school to become a personal support worker and spent more than 2,000 hours caring for sick and elderly patients in Ontario during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of this work occurred during the deadly third and fourth waves of the virus.

She applied for permanent residency in Canada through a special program set up by former Liberal immigration minister Marco Mendicino. The program recognizes the “exceptional service” of failed and pending asylum seekers who’ve worked on the front lines of the pandemic by offering them an alternative pathway to residency.

But Saka’s application was rejected by an officer at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada because she didn’t meet one of the program’s basic requirements: having worked at least 120 hours between March 13, 2020 (the day pandemic travel restrictions were first introduced in Canada) and Aug. 14, 2020 (the day Mendicino announced the program).

Because the program was announced months after Saka went on leave, there was no way for her to know this decision would later be used to deny her residency. “Whenever I think about it I’m so depressed,” she said. Saka is appealing the decision to the Federal Court.

If Saka wins her case at the Federal Court, her application will be sent back to another immigration officer for reconsideration. Fraser could also intervene and allow her and her family to stay.

Whatever the outcome, Saka feels like she’s earned the right to remain in Canada. “I’ve worked for it and I’m still working,” she declared to Afrotimes News.

Source: Afrotimes Newspaper https://www.facebook.com/AfrotimesNewspaper/photos/a.119381757440035/123533187024892/

Haba! they should just have mercy on this lady and her kid na.

Please let her remain in Canada


She's from owo, her town people have just been gruesomely murdered. She deserves asylum again, if you can't give her residency.


I hope she gets a good immigration lawyer

I know there are rules and regulations to be followed but for this one, there should be an exception. This is just so sad!

darocha1:
Please let her remain in Canada


She's from owo, her town people have just been gruesomely murdered. She deserves asylum again, if you can't give her residency.


I hope she gets a good immigration lawyer

Exactly!

So the kids can stay because they are canadain...
but u want yo deport the parents...

Is that not witchcraft??

They should pity her and allow her stay na ....... Nigeria is not a country you would even wish your worst enemy to stay.

Bahamas95:
They should pity her and allow her stay na ....... Nigeria is not a country you would even wish your worst enemy to stay.

True

Oyinbo people no dey joke with rules and dont want to set precedents. Sad . The topic is disingenuous too. She was denied for not meeting the requirements of the one time offer not having a baby. But she can argue that she would have been working if she wasn’t pregnant.

CANADA has got stricter immigration Laws than the United States.
The United States is the HOME for All!

Highlandgee:


Whatever the outcome, Saka feels like she’s earned the right to remain in Canada. “I’ve worked for it and I’m still working,” she declared to Afrotimes News.

This overinflated sense of entitlement is the problem. Her underlying asylum petition has been denied. In other words, she has not earned the right to live in Canada. She applied for residency under a one-time emergency program… she didn’t qualify. It doesn’t matter that she didn’t qualify because she was having a baby. The rules are the rules. This isn’t Nigeria where who you know and how hard you cry is what determines your fate.

Newphiligeek123:
I know there are rules and regulations to be followed but for this one, there should be an exception. This is just so sad!

Exception here, exception there for sentimental reasons, that's how a good system gets corrupted.

What about her husband, didn't he meet the requirements to stay?

Newphiligeek123:
I know there are rules and regulations to be followed but for this one, there should be an exception. This is just so sad!

Those people over there are strictly rules followers.. Some things we normally lock up for here, to them they wont. Rules are rules.

U break any rules, ur position wont stand in the way of judgement.

I just remember djokovic case with the Australian govt.

I once worked under an American seasoned geologist. A Benue girl was put under PIP. She cried and rolled in the man office begging that if she did not meet up her contract could be terminated. My Oga could not understand all those drama and simply told her to work on herself. Omo, my brain opened and absorbed all the training i thought i would never understood. Oyinbo will tell you right leg can't fit into left leg. Right is right and wrong is wrong. All these they told me whenever they invited me for Heineken.

MALIGNANTGuest:
CANADA has got stricter immigration Laws than the United States.
The United States is the HOME for All!

I think is not about being strict here. Is like a solider that were departed for a war front , like sambisan getting their and then applied for a leave. rightafter, a juicy package was introduce for those on the war front.

Do you think, they wouldn't assume she's aabsconded from struggle.

If she can defend it well on the appeal , with doctor advice, they can consider her, she doesn't has to give up yet.

TWoods:


This overinflated sense of entitlement is the problem. Her underlying asylum petition has been denied. In other words, she has not earned the right to live in Canada. She applied for residency under a one-time emergency program… she didn’t qualify. It doesn’t matter that she didn’t qualify because she was having a baby. The rules are the rules. This isn’t Nigeria where who you know and how hard you cry is what determines your fate.

Okay I see one time emergency program

pat077:
What about her husband, didn't he meet the requirements to stay?

men typically avoid care work. So he probably didn’t qualify for the program. I know someone who said she can never do care work and is under asylum. But rushed to do the job after that one time offer. Hoping for another one time offer. Unfortunately they haven’t done it since then

ednut1:
men typically avoid care work. So he probably didn’t qualify for the program. I know someone who said she can never do care work and is under asylum. But rushed to do the job after that one time offer. Hoping for another one time offer. Unfortunately they haven’t done it since then

okay. Now I know.

thesicilian:

Exception here, exception there for sentimental reasons, that's how a good system gets corrupted.

Nobody is saying to corrupt the system. Exceptions are normal and is granted for cases that warrant it, not based just on sentiments. This lady's case deserves an exception.

For more news about Nigerians abroad, visit the Afrotimes Newspaper
https://www.facebook.com/AfrotimesNewspaper

Saka feels like she has earned the right to remain. Entitlement mentality.... instead of pleading for leniency.

ednut1:
men typically avoid care work. So he probably didn’t qualify for the program. I know someone who said she can never do care work and is under asylum. But rushed to do the job after that one time offer. Hoping for another one time offer. Unfortunately they haven’t done it since then

Very true!

If she is deported, she will have to go with her kids because they can't be separated. The only difference will be that her kids are citizens and can return any time without hassles.

Well, as much as this sounds pathetic, we must appreciate that Canada is a country of laws and not of men (unlike 9jeria), they follow processes.

Too much of “Leave am naaah,” even when it’s obvious a crime has been committed is why we all in a mess today.

I definitely empathize with her, but let the law prevail.

It's well

Bb

Very sad. I wish there could be a clause for a review.

ednut1:
Oyinbo people no dey joke with rules and dont want to set precedents. Sad

Exactly. Same reason Nigeria is somehow.