Lawyers Urge Trudeau To Help Snowden Families

Lawyers for the “Snowden Refugees” on Wednesday appealed directly to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help them while he still can.

Nearly seven months after the first of the “Snowden Refugees” – asylum seekers in Hong Kong who helped shelter the American whistleblower during his period in Hong Kong in 2013 – arrived in Canada as recognised refugees on private sponsorship claims, the others remain in limbo.

Vanessa Rodel and her daughter Keana, who their lawyers say had been living a life of “destitution and uncertainty” while in Hong Kong, arrived in Toronto in March, and have since settled in Montreal.

However, former Sri Lankan soldier Ajith Pushpakumara, and husband and wife Supun Kellapatha and Nadeeka, and their two stateless children, Sethumdi and Dinath, remain in Hong Kong. Supun is also Keana’s father.

Private sponsorship refugee claims were filed in Canada for all three families in January 2017, and lawyers say the continuing delay in dealing with the remaining two families is unexplained.

“The reason why their cases have been delayed up to this point, myself and the lawyers based in Montreal, we have no idea,” said Robert Tibbo, a lawyer who represents the families as well as Edward Snowden.

“There’s been no indication why there’s been delays, and there’s no indication when their cases will be decided, and despite asking Ahmed Hussen’s office [Canada’s minister of immigration], there’s no answers. It’s complete silence at this stage.”

Tibbo said the ongoing anti-government protests in Hong Kong have put the families in an even more vulnerable state.

“They’ve all expressed to me that this was the situation in Sri Lanka … this was the situation in Sri Lanka for decades,” he said. “Sethumdi, the seven-year-old girl, she’s afraid to go outside. The soldier, Ajith, is completely re-traumatised. He’s seen the police first-hand… and he’s afraid that if he does go onto the street, he’ll be killed.”

Vanessa Rodel said: “My daughter needs her whole family here in Montreal. She dreams of her father and sister and brother being with her and their absence is causing harm to her.”

Tibbo has written a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, setting out the urgency of the families’ situation and the risks they face in Hong Kong.

Trudeau’s office replied that they hoped he “will understand that [Trudeau] is unable to personally intervene in this matter,” and have forwarded the letter to the minister of immigration.

“With Mr Trudeau having three children of similar age, what are his views on the Snowden Refugee children [and] his government’s decision to have divided the families?” Tibbo asked. “Is this the way he would expect the Canadian government to treat his own children should they ever be in the situation that my client’s children are in?”