Here's the Biggest Story in Canada Right Now

[deception]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/682078

As Suaad Hagi Mohamud underwent hospital tests yesterday for an illness nagging her since her unwarranted stint in a Kenyan jail, Canada's public safety minister concedes the many unanswered questions in her case deserve answers.

"She's really sick," Mohamud's lawyer Raoul Boulakia said of the woman who arrived home to a hero's welcome at Pearson on Saturday, and a tearful airport reunion with her 12-year-old son Mohamed Hussein, who she'd left with friends here while visiting her sick mother in Nairobi.

Even as Mohamud's doctors probed for answers, the Canadian government was beginning to look for its own answers in the case.

"From where we see it now it looks like it needs a bit of an explanation," Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said in Toronto yesterday of Mohamud's ordeal in Kenya.

The government, he said, will seek to determine "what decisions were made, and why, and to get a sense of what actually occurred."

But Van Loan said it's far too soon to talk about compensating the Toronto woman for her three-month ordeal, which began after Canadian high commission officials in Nairobi, Kenya, cancelled her Canadian passport and turned her over to Kenyan authorities as a stateless person – all because she didn't look like her four-year-old passport photo.

"We have border services agents that have to make thousands of decisions every day," Van Loan said. "I certainly wouldn't want to pass any judgment until I see the results of the report."

Van Loan and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, who now has also commissioned an inquiry of his own, were mostly silent on the Mohamud file until after the Toronto woman underwent DNA tests to prove who she said she was – a Canadian citizen of Somali origin who was left to fend for herself in Nairobi after her pleas for help were rejected by Canadian officials in Kenya even after she provided documentary proof of her life in Toronto.

After the DNA tests confirmed her relationship to the boy she'd left behind in Toronto, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said bringing her home was Canada's "first priority."

But less than 24 hours after landing at Pearson, Mohamud was undergoing tests in hospital.

She's been losing weight and suffering respiratory problems since her eight-day incarceration June 3-11 at Nairobi's Langata Women's Prison, Boulakia said.

Chest x-rays ruled out tuberculosis, and if she had pneumonia at some point during her extreme bureaucratic ordeal she no longer does, the lawyer said.

"She has a persistent cough which remains undiagnosed," he said. "She had fevers in Kenya, so she will also be tested for malaria.

"She currently suffers from loss of appetite."

Doctors were also exploring whether she might have caught an infectious tropical disease, Boulakia said, which might be difficult to diagnose and treat. More tests are to be conducted today.



At the Canadian high commission in Nairobi, her lawyer said, consular officers knew Mohamud was sick. They saw her repeatedly for such procedures as fingerprinting, DNA testing and various other formalities.

"We have free medical care in Canada," he said.

"Why would they not evacuate her to Canada?"

Adding another element to the case, the lawyer said Ottawa began to seriously check Mohamud's identity claims – and did nothing – well before she was to face trial in Kenya on charges since proved false.

As part of the elaborate process of trying to prove herself, she asked Canadian officials to contact her workplace, the ATS courier company in Etobicoke.

On July 15, Boulakia said, ATS vouched for Mohamud with intelligence officers from the Canada Border Services Agency, which reports to Van Loan.

ATS would neither confirm nor deny the visit but has said it is holding Mohamud's job as a supervisor on the overnight shift at a sorting plant.

 

[deception]

her lawyer has suggested that she's prepared to sue the canadian high commission; klm (the airline) and the kenyan govt

 

[maxiep]

It's messed up that it took so long to sort it out.

 

[deception]

It's messed up that it took so long to sort it out.

what troubled me is the she was a new citizen (plenty of recent info on her); had a job here and had family here as well including a 12 year old son- all these things should have been verified. according to reports- the govt said they had "conclusive" evidence she was an impostor until of course the dna evidence.

 

[Shapecity]

It took them 8 days to verify some simple information and went through the trouble of doing DNA testing. What a joke. Something similar actually happened to one of my friends crossing back into the US from Canada. They border patrol people said he didn't look like his passport, towed his car to a storage facility, and detained him for almost 24 hours. He had to provide all types of documentation to prove who he was and then paid to have his car taken out of storage plus towing fees. They charged him $60.00 an hour.

 

[deception]

It took them 8 days to verify some simple information and went through the trouble of doing DNA testing. What a joke. Something similar actually happened to one of my friends crossing back into the US from Canada. They border patrol people said he didn't look like his passport, towed his car to a storage facility, and detained him for almost 24 hours. He had to provide all types of documentation to prove who he was and then paid to have his car taken out of storage plus towing fees. They charged him $60.00 an hour.

it took them 3 months

 

[Shapecity]

it took them 3 months

Where did it say that? 3 months is outrageous.

All I saw was this

She's been losing weight and suffering respiratory problems since her eight-day incarceration June 3-11 at Nairobi's Langata Women's Prison, Boulakia said.

 

[deception]

Where did it say that? 3 months is outrageous.

All I saw was this

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/08/12/f-haji-mohamud-timeline.html

The case of Suaad Hagi Mohamud, a Toronto woman who was stranded in Kenya for almost three months after finding herself entangled in a diplomatic imbroglio, generated widespread controversy and earned the federal government a harsh rebuke from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.

some idiots are actually blaming her for not resembling her passport photo. they of course forget to mention that this could have been resolved by calling her employer or her family (12 year old son here in toronto)

 

[Chutney]

Harper's reign has been characterized by a refusal to take care of a certain kind of Canadian citizen. The Omar Khadr case is just as ridiculous and outrageous as this one. The Supreme Court has told his Government that they were obligated to bring him back from Gitmo twice, and all he's done is shuffle his feet and waste time to avoid complying with their ruling.

 

[Chutney]

some idiots are actually blaming her for not resembling her passport photo. they of course forget to mention that this could have been resolved by calling her employer or her family (12 year old son here in toronto)

Who specifically? I'm curious.

 

[deception]

Who specifically? I'm curious.

well when im driving i like listening to talk radio and i hear the idiots call in with their retarded arse opinions

 

[Chutney]

well when im driving i like listening to talk radio and i hear the idiots call in with their retarded arse opinions

Ugh. There's only one thing more mind-numbing than talk radio.... the call-in segments.

 

[Shapecity]

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/08/12/f-haji-mohamud-timeline.html



some idiots are actually blaming her for not resembling her passport photo. they of course forget to mention that this could have been resolved by calling her employer or her family (12 year old son here in toronto)

You'd figure this would be standard protocol.

 

[Tyler_Hansbrough]

That is why I will never leave the USA! God Bless America!

 

[Chutney]

TORONTO - A Canadian woman who was stranded for months in Kenya over false claims that she was an impostor is suing Ottawa for $2.5 million for her ordeal.

Her lawyers and supporters are also asking for a public inquiry and apology from the federal government. "I was alone when my government let me down," Suaad Hagi Mohamud, 31, said Friday.

"I don't care about money. ... I'm only (going) to court so this never happens to another Canadian citizen."

Mohamud, who was born in Somalia, was stranded for almost three months in Kenya after authorities said her lips did not match her four-year-old passport photo.

Canadian officials branded her an impostor, voided her passport and handed it over to Kenyan authorities for prosecution.

She returned to Toronto on Saturday and was reunited with her 12-year-old son after genetic tests proved her identity and the charges against her were dropped.

Her lawyers say they've been stonewalled by federal officials and believe the public will not see the results of an internal government investigation into her case.

One of her lawyers, Julian Falconer, called her ordeal Kafkaesque.

An inquiry must be called to investigate whether Mohamud's race and culture played a role in how she was treated, said Falconer, who represented Maher Arar in his lawsuit against Ottawa.

"If a Caucasian person had been in Suaad's position in Kenya, would she have received the callous and reckless treatment she did?" he said.

"We don't know the answer. We need someone to look at it and answer that question, because frankly, I find it hard to believe that a white, Anglo-Saxon person in her position would have been treated the same way."

Source: Yahoo!​

 

[Shapecity]

How come she's asking for $2.5M if it's not about the money?

I think she should ask for more personally and deserves compensation. She needs to be honest about it though otherwise don't ask for money.

 

[Chutney]

How come she's asking for $2.5M if it's not about the money?

I think she should ask for more personally and deserves compensation. She needs to be honest about it though otherwise don't ask for money.

I lol'd at that too. She shouldn't be bashful/embarrassed about it. She was badly wronged by her own government and is entitled to compensation for what she suffered.