Deportation of a two-year-old Canadian citizen to Nigeria

The deportation of a two-year-old Canadian citizen from Montreal, Canada, to Nigeria with his Nigerian citizen mother, including his sister, who is under 15 years of age, has taken a dramatic turn after a 7-hour flight from Toronto to ADDIS Ababa, Ethiopia. 

Author: Ekens Azubuike.

Hello, my name is Ekens Azubuike, the founder and board member of Ekens Foundation International, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I’m here to bring you an update regarding the deportation of a Canadian citizen, Master xxxxxx, who is under three years old.

His mother, who is your Nigerian citizen, is Victoria Oyindamola Kentebe, and her daughter, who is under 15 years old, is named xxxxx.

We at the Ekens Foundation have been following up on the situation for some time now and have actively been involved in the litigation regarding the deportation of these three deportees in order to prevent this occurrence.

This is what we’ve been fighting for with regards to complicated Canadian immigration policies and the power given to the Canada Border Service Agency. Including the fact that the Canada Border Service Agency does receive at least C$46 million every year for the deportation of refugee and asylum seekers, and this is what we stood for in fighting the inhumane and degrading treatment against refugee and asylum seekers in Canada in this case.

We have been actively involved in this case for some time. Approximately during the second week of April 2024, we made several deferral applications to defer the deportation from Canada, but the Canada Border Service agency refused to defer the deportation because of this uncertainty, which is on the verge of unfolding right now.

We made an application for leave and judicial review at the federal court, which is currently pending; at the same time, we made an application to the federal courts, namely a motion for stay of deportation, which was denied with no reasonable explanation by the judge.

Mr. Harry is a Canadian citizen with a Canadian international passport who was diagnosed with level 3 (ASD autism). This can be confirmed by the letter signed by Dr. Shantel’s Shahid, the assistant clinical professor at McMaster University, suite 9, 497 Laurier Avenue.

At the same time, Master Harry, who was diagnosed with autism level 3, was the subject of a custody battle at the family court in Montreal between Miss Victoria Oyindamola Kentebe and Mr. Sunday Adebowale Opadola.

The family court granted the mother Victoria the custody of Harry on April 12, 2024, and the case was adjourned till April 29, 2024. Under international law, the removal of a child who is a subject of custody litigation in a court contravenes the rights of the child.

Including the impediment and the hardship that the child faces if removed to international territory, which is a violation of the International Convention on Child Rights.

Section 5.10: Parental Child Abduction, Public Prosecution Service of Canada Desk book, the Directive of the Attorney General Issued under Section 10(2) of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act, March 1, 2014

Child abduction occurs when one parent, without either legal authority or the permission of the other parent, takes a child from the parent who has lawful custody. However, there may be both international and domestic aspects to child abduction.

Although children may not be in physical danger, their lives are nevertheless greatly disrupted. They are deprived by the abducting parent of security, stability, and continuity in their lives.

The purposes of ss. 282 and 283(1) of the Criminal Code are to prevent such outcomes, encourage parents to settle child custody and access issues in court, and abide by any court orders that are made.

Section 282 of the Criminal Code prohibits parental child abductions in situations where there is a custody order made by a Canadian court.

Section 283 applies to situations where parents continue to have joint custody of their child by operation of law, where there is a written agreement, where there is a foreign custody order, or where the abducting parent did not believe or know there was a valid custody order.

The Ontario Court of Appeal in R v. McDougall (1990) 62 CCC (3d) 174 at 189 cautioned that:

The offense created by s. 282 is a grave one and is intended to strike at conduct in the nature of child abduction. Care must be taken before a prosecution is launched under s. 282 to ensure that the events complained of truly amount to criminal conduct. This care is evidenced by the requirement in s. 283 (a companion section to s. 282) that the attorney general or counsel instructed by him consents to proceedings under that section. It is very common in custody and access disputes that each parent feels terribly wronged and makes the most serious allegation against the other. Criminal prosecutions cannot become a weapon in the arsenal of parties to acrimonious family disputes.

In October of 1998, the Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Ministers responsible for Justice adopted model charging guidelines for use by police and Crown counsel to assist in the uniform application of the Criminal Code provisions and, in particular, in deciding when and how charges may be laid.

The guidelines remain advisory only, since the decision on charging rests with investigative agencies and ultimately with Crown counsel. This directive reflects the principles set out in the model guidelines.

During this removal procedure, the three deportees have been to the airport on several occasions, approximately 6 to 7 times, and each time, something always comes up to warrant the Canadian Border Service Agency canceling the departure.

It happened that the child in question, Harry, fell sick at the airport. Another time, the airline required a visa on the Canadian passport of Mr. Harry.

Since that time, it has been a very stressful situation for the mother, Victoria, who has been detained on multiple occasions at the immigration detention center in Laval by the Canada border service agency.

On several occasions, the Canadian border service agency made several threats to Victoria that they would take her child away and send her back to Nigeria without her child, which triggered anxiety and depression because of this. Victoria was evaluated by a psychologist named CEPL Monteregie, and a psychological report was signed on April 16, 2024, in validation of a previous psychological evaluation on depression and anxiety (PTSD) in July 2023 by the same psychologist.

Regardless, she has an application for humanitarian assistance pending Canadian citizenship and immigration. Miss Victoria pleaded with the Federal Court of Canada to stay removed pending the outcome of the application, including consideration of the best interest of the child, which is very essential under the law, but all efforts were denied.

On February 14, 2024, the Canada Border Service agency presented documents to Miss Victoria, and this documentation reads that Miss Victoria is to sign an undertaking for the Nigeria visa application on arrival for her child, who will be traveling to Nigeria on dates to be determined, and to confirm that she will accept all immigration responsibility while attending to the children for the duration of the stay in Nigeria.

This undertaking is to be sent directly to the Nigerian immigration office in Abuja at the email address provided by the CBSA.

Mrs. Victoria returned to the CBSA office on April 18, 2024, and refused to sign these documents on the ground that she had not worked for many years while in Canada because her work permit was denied by immigration, and she did not have any funds to take care of those kids upon her arrival in Nigeria.

At the same time, Victoria demanded the passport of Mr. Harry to proceed to the Nigerian Embassy in Ottawa in order to obtain a valid visa to be sure that entry into Nigeria would be guaranteed.

But instead of that, the CBSA officer did not provide the passport; rather, they did otherwise by arresting Miss Victoria and putting her in detention once again on arbitrary detention.

After two days in detention, Miss Victoria was released, and the following day, the CBSA proceeded to hand her over a ticket stating that she would be departing for Nigeria, whether with or without her child, on April 27, 2024.

Miss. Victoria provided the agency with the procedure for a Nigerian VISA, which was published on the Nigeria Immigration website, and informed the CBSA that there is no provision for such an application as a VISA on arrival, which was implemented during the COVID-19 registration.

Surprisingly, on April 23, 2024, the agency showed up with approval of a VISA on arrival, which is valid for 12 days, signed by the special assistant to the controller general of operations for the controller general of Immigration Service in Abuja.

This visa on the letterhead of the Nigeria Immigration Service Abuja addresses Mr. OBADOLA Sunday ODEBOWALE.

I so read: I am directed to refer to the application for business visa on arrival and convey the controller general of immigration service approval for the insurance of the visa in favor of the following visitors: xxxx

Note: This is the same 2-year-old child who has been diagnosed with autism level 3.

Now, how can the Nigerian Immigration Service issue a business visa for a child under three years old? I think this is misrepresentation and negligence on the Nigerian government side, which the minister of interior needs to investigate and look into the reason why the Canada border service agency would facilitate the visa application directly from Abuja on a two and a half-year-old child’s arrival.

And a business visa, and bypass the Nigerian Consulate in Ottawa?

Things took a different turn on April 27, 2024, after the three deportees left Montreal for Toronto on a Canadian airline flight and joined an Ethiopian airline flight to Nigeria.

Between the flights from Canada to Toronto to Addis Ababa, Mr. Harry fell sick onboard the flight based on his pre-existing health condition, which is known to Canadian authorities.

On arrival in Addis Ababa, Mr. Harry’s health condition continued to get worse. Ekens Foundation was contacted again by Miss Victoria from Addis Ababa, who informed Ekens Foundation International of the situation with Harry.

Since then, these three deportees have been at Addis Ababa airport, trying to contact the Canadian embassy, and no treatment has been given to Harry till now.

The clinic at the airport is demanding payments in American dollars from Miss Victoria, who has nothing with her.

Miss Victoria explains that she has nothing and has not worked for years because the work permit was denied by the Canadian authority for some years.

She explained that she does not have any funds to take care of those kids throughout the journey or even at their arrival, and she needs to deal with her own situation.

The Ethiopian airline people in Addis Ababa refused to give treatment to Harry, who is now, as you can see in the photo, in a wheelchair.

Miss Victoria has contacted the Canadian authority, and they confirm that there is nothing they can do and that Miss Victoria needs to look for friends and family to assist.

Miss Victoria called the Ekens Foundation again at 3 and 4 AM on April 28, 2024.

Since then, the conversation has been going back and forth between Miss Victoria, the hospital, and the Canadian authority because Mr. Harry is a Canadian citizen and should be accorded the protections of the law.

This is the situation where we are now, and with the consent of Miss Victoria, we at Ekens Foundation International will try to connect with her at Addis Ababa airport to explain her own version.

The photo on the display is what was sent by Miss Victoria.

Contact Ekens@ekensonline.com for further publication and updates.

Author: Ekens Azubuike