Sierra Leone couple files deportation review
EDMONTON - The lawyer for an elderly couple from Sierra Leone facing possible deportation has filed for judicial review of the decisions that would send them homeward.
Arnold, 77, and Pamela, 65, George have been denied refugee status, denied an exemption based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, and were told in a pre-removal risk assessment that they would face no greater danger than others in Sierra Leone.
Shirish Chotalia, new to the Georges' case, first met with them Friday. Later that day, she filed requests for the decisions to be reviewed. She is concentrating on the humanitarian and compassionate grounds, and plans to request that Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley step in on the couple's behalf.
"Sending anybody to Sierra Leone at this time causes unusual and undeserved harm," she said. The country is ranked by the United Nations in 2006 as the second least livable country in the world.
The couple fled Sierra Leone, coming to Edmonton in 2003. They currently live with their daughter, a Canadian citizen.
