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Abelkader Belaouni:
900 days in church sanctuary
International Refugee Day:
900 days inside a church.

Montreal, 20 June 2008
"Nine hundred - it's a very big number,"
said Abdelkader Belaouni on the eve of
International Refugee Day. Mr. Belaouni,
known as Kader to his friends, has
spent nine hundred days inside the
confines of St. Gabriel's Church in the
Point St. Charles neighbourhood of
Montreal.

Kader's journey to the church was a
long and difficult one which began when
he fled Algeria's brutal civil war almost
twelve years ago. As a blind man,
he was particularly vulnerable to the
violence which took the lives of
hundreds of thousands of people and
forced many more to find refuge in more
stable countries. Ultimately refused as
a refugee by Canada, Kader applied
for humanitarian status, but was told that
the fact that he was not married
and had no job made it impossible for
Canada to accept him. Never mind that
he had a strong network of friends, that
he had established roots in Point
St. Charles, that he faced significant barriers
to finding paid employment, that he contributed
to the community through volunteer work, that
he hadn't lived in Algeria for ten years:
he was to be deported "back home".

Kader's decision to publicly refuse the
unjust deportation order quickly
won strong support from individuals and
organizations in Montreal,
throughout Quebec, across Canada and
even internationally. Kader's stand
became a symbol for the struggle of migrants
to be treated with dignity and respect in Canada
rather than as commodities, whose market
value alone would determine their worth.

An impressive network has grown up
around Kader, with friends and community
members coming daily to bring food and
spend time with him. Nor has Kader
been passive:
he has taken the discriminatory
attitude of Immigration Canada
as a personal challenge and has
risen to it with remarkable strength.

Learning to use a computer, playing piano,
guitar and recorder, releasing an
album with a local hip-hop artist
(see link from Kader's website),
and hosting a monthly
radio show live from the
church at CKUT 90'3 FM are only
some of his accomplishments
since he entered the church.
He has also become a kind
of informal therapist,
offering moral support and
a sympathetic ear to many.

Still, nine hundred days of
imprisonment has taken its toll.

"His resilience is impressive," said David
Woodbury, a member of the Intervention
network for persons who have been
subjected to organised violence (RIVO),
a Montreal-based group.

"But he often suffers depression
and is becoming increasingly fragile.
I'd say that he is reacting normally
to a very abnormal, very difficult situation."
Woodbury, a psychotherapist
who has known Kader for two years,
warned that, despite Kader's strength
and "positive energy", the kind of stress
that he is being subject to has a
cumulative effect, and will have a
long-term impact on Kader's health
if the situation does not change soon.

Woodbury stressed that he expected
Kader to "rebound" easily if he is
granted status and leaves the church
soon, but that this will become
increasingly difficult as time goes on.

Kader's medical doctor, Marie Munoz,
shares Woodbury's concern. "It's a
humanitarian emergency," she said.
Munoz is worried about the long-term
impact of the situation on Kader's diabetes,
a disease she says is difficult
to treat properly while he remains
in the church.

In a letter sent to the Minister of
Immigration, made public yesterday,
Munoz describes two medical emergencies
that Kader has suffered in the church, one
necessitating the emergency removal of
a plastic tube protruding from his
eye. The operation took place on a
couch in the church presbytery, in
conditions that Munoz calls,
"very suboptimal."

The letter, signed by four healthcare
workers, concludes, "Mr. Belaouni's
state of health has deteriorated during
the more than two years he has been
in sanctuary and, for both medical and
humanitarian reasons, this untenable
situation must cease. He has not yet
completely lost hope, but his current
circumstances are causing him excessive
suffering, suffering that the
authorities are in a position to remedy."

"Nine hundred days! I tried to count
the number of hours yesterday...
I don't want to stay here another
100 days, I feel it is too much," said
Kader. "What have I done to be treated
like this? If the Minister of
Immigration Diane Finley were in
my position, I wouldn't do this to her for
ten days! Why can't she do something
good for me and grant me status?

All I'm asking her now is just to read
my file herself, open it and read it
herself."

* CBC's The Current update on Kader:
click here
(near end of second segment).

* CBC News at Six update on Kader:
click here
(19 June 2008, fourth story)

* Background information:
http://www.soutienpourkader.net
-
Comité de soutien d'Abdelkader Belaouni
soutienkader@gmail.com
tél. 514 848 7583.
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Summer 2008

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