An asylum seeker who fled civil war in Ethiopia says she’s furious after Canada’s immigration department made a silly mistake on her work permit, leaving her still unable to work, study or receive care adequate healthcare while waiting more than 16 months for his refugee. case to move forward.
Eden Zebene has lived in Ottawa since fleeing Ethiopia in February 2021. The 23-year-old is waiting for her case to be heard by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, the final step before becoming a protected person and apply for permanent residence (PR).
“I was very depressed… because I have nothing to do here. I always stay at home. I can’t study or I can’t [work],” she said.
“I want to change. My life.”
After 16 months of asking Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to advance her case by phone, email, in person and through her lawyer, Zebene had her eligibility interview at the end of July, a step that applicants must go through in order to obtain work and study permits.
Although still without a study permit, he finally got his work permit this month, which gave him some hope, only to find it expired on the same day it was issued: August 6 of 2022.
“I feel very disappointed. I felt very humiliated. I thought no one cares about me in this country,” Zebene said emotionally. He described experiencing serious mental health impacts as a result of IRCC’s delays and the error in his case.
“I cried a lot.”
CBC reached out to Canada’s Immigration Department for comment Tuesday on Zebene’s situation and did not receive a response by deadline.
This month, Zebene got his work permit. This copy you have shows that it was issued on August 6, 2022 and expires on that same date. (Buntola Nou/CBC)
Zebene said his family was the subject of brutal attacks in Ethiopia’s Oromia region and said the family’s home and business were set on fire. She was detained, beaten, insulted, threatened and sexually assaulted by Ethiopian security forces because of her Amharan ethnicity and perceived political opinion in the past, her submission to IRCC says.
Ethiopia’s northern regions have been embroiled in conflict since the start of a civil war in November 2020 where all sides have been accused of atrocities. Although there are no official government numbers, it is estimated that thousands of Amharas have been killed and millions displaced.
“I was scared for my life,” Zebene said. “If I come back, I will be ill-treated, arrested, killed, tortured.”
Zebene shared a video of her family’s burning home and business. Here are several screenshots from this video. (Submitted by Eden Zebene)
Now safe in Canada, she dreams of studying computer science at an Ottawa university and working part-time, but without valid permits and a social insurance number she can’t.
She is also pregnant and had a health scare a few months ago, but was only able to access basic care at a newcomers clinic under her provisional federal health coverage as she hopes to be eligible for the Health Insurance Plan of Ontario.
Zebene has tried several times to contact IRCC to correct his recent mistake on his work permit, to no avail.
“I’m young and I think I can do a lot for this country and also for myself,” he said. “Please do something and help me.”
Zebene says she experienced physical and sexual abuse in Ethiopia. He has a copy of his work permit in front of an IRCC office in Ottawa. He mailed the original, hoping the government would fix his mistake quickly so he could get to work. (Buntola Nou/CBC)
‘All his dreams… fell apart’: husband
Tizazu Yamitu said it has been difficult to watch his wife struggle.
“Was [a] a very traumatic experience,” he said. “This bureaucratic process, it had drained him of energy and motivation… All his dreams, you know, basically just shattered before his eyes.”
He wonders how such a “trivial mistake” could be made in an important document.
Yamitu, who was also an asylum claimant in 2017, is calling on IRCC to properly train its employees, to fix mistakes quickly and for immigration officers to empathize with applicants.
“They must think they’re like deciding someone’s fate, you know?” he said “It’s totally unimaginable to think that these kinds of mistakes would happen.”
Not knowing when she will have a refugee board hearing, Yamitu is asking IRCC to fast-track her spousal sponsorship application for Zebene, which they filed two months ago. This is another path the couple has taken to seek Zebene’s permanent residence.
Zebene, left, and her husband Tizazu Yamitu. Yamitu was also an asylum claimant in 2017. He says watching his wife wait so long for her case to move forward is agonizing. (Submitted by Eden Zebene)
The longest wait the refugee lawyer has ever seen
Zebene’s lawyer, Teklemichael Sahlemariam, who practices refugee law, said his 16-month wait for an eligibility interview is the longest he has ever seen among his clients.
“It’s not normal,” he said.
Sahlemariam said she recommends her Ottawa customers change their address to Toronto if possible to avoid delays.
“This happens often to my clients in Ottawa,” said the Toronto lawyer. “It was unduly delayed.”
Sahlemariam has also never seen the IRCC expire someone’s work permit on the same day it was issued; but a week before she learned of Zebene’s expired permit, she saw an email from another attorney whose client experienced something similar.
“This kind of technical error can happen. I’m not surprised by that,” he said, adding that it should be an easy fix for IRCC.
“What seriously bothers me, rather, is how long it took him to get that work permit.”
LOOK | The lawyer says he is concerned about the client’s long waiting time:
Lawyer says asylum seeker forced to rely on welfare amid work permit delay
Eden Zebene, an asylum seeker from Ethiopia, finally received her work permit after an 18-month delay, only to find it expired on the day it was issued. His lawyer, Tecklemichael Sahlemariam, says many of his other clients are also seeing delays.
Sahlemariam, who is also Ethiopian, said what Zebene went through in her home country was traumatic and she is surprised why it took so long to advance her case since there is strong documentation of her persecution in Ethiopia .
“She wanted to be productive, give back to the community, pay taxes, but she was forced to rely on welfare and that’s because of issues beyond her control,” he said.
For more stories about the experiences of black Canadians, from anti-black racism to success stories within the black community, check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project that black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
(CBC)