Canada halts Filipino-Nigerian family’s deportation upon UN HR body’s request

The United Nations Human Rights Committee requested that Canada stay the deportation of the mother, Arlyn Huilar, and their three children from being sent to the Philippines | Contributed

Canada has suspended the deportation of a Filipino mother and her three children in response to a request from the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Arlyn Huilar of Trois-Rivières, Quebec and her three kids, who are 6, 9, and 11 years old, were to be deported to the Philippines this month.

The family had applied for refugee status in 2019 but were rejected last year. Huilar is from the Philippines and her husband David Ajibade is from Nigeria.

Ajibade is still in Nigeria where he was deported late last month. One of the children, whose Filipino citizenship was in doubt, risked being deported to Nigeria.

Hours before the youngest child, Carlsen, was to be deported with his father to Nigeria, a federal judge ruled he should not be separated from his two older siblings and mother.

The family’s lawyer, Sabrina Kosseim, then requested a United Nations Human Rights Committee intervention in the family’s case after Ajibade was deported June 28.

The committee accepted her request and asked Canada to stay the deportation of Huilar and the children.

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) canceled their deportation pending a ruling on whether they can become Canadian permanent residents on humanitarian grounds.

Huilar told CBC News that her children “jumped with joy” upon learning of the CBSA decision.

The couple met online and were married in Nigeria in 2009. Their children faced racism and hostility in the Philippines, then narrowly avoided a kidnapping in Nigeria, Kosseim said.

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Their lawyer, Kossim, told CBC News that Ajibade was struggling without his family, but  “he is obviously very relieved for them that they’ll be able to stay in Canada for the time being. But it remains that the family is still separated right now. It’s a family that’s always been united, always been together. So we are hoping that they will be reunited not too long from now,” Kosseim said.

Huilar, Ajibade, and their children arrived in Canada via Roxham Road in May 2019 and soon settled in Trois-Rivières, a city 130 kilometers east of Montreal.

As they awaited news of their refugee claim, the parents moved up in their jobs. They made friends at their local church and the children settled into French school.

Ajibade, who is an engineer by training and worked as a foreman in Quebec, said Trois-Rivières was the first place the family had felt at home. In March, they applied for permanent residency on humanitarian grounds.