We Are For The Refugees - A Non Profit Working To Bring Refugees Who Sheltered Snowden to Canada. AUA!

What is the biggest obstacle you see in getting these refugees to Canada?

Time is a clear concern to us.

It is beyond any doubt that these individuals meet the legal definition of a refugee. But Hong Kong is actively trying to deport them from its territory back to their home countries of Sri Lanka and the Philippines. If sent back, they will be apprehended, tortured or killed.

Now that formal applications have been made to Canada, and that the urgent nature of their is clear, it is important for Canada to act fast.

Why do you believe that they would be tortured or killed in their home countries? Has the US been pressuring those countries to make these people disappear?

You can read the stories of our clients here:

Ajith

Vanessa

Supun and Nadeeka

We've also had reports that the Sri Lankan CID has been searching for our clients (see: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2073439/hong-kong-asylum-seekers-who-sheltered-edward-snowden-fear)

Sri Lanka's Security forces have a very poor record on human rights

What inspired you to take this specific path for asylum seeking?

We cannot get into the specifics of the legal case or strategy per se, but what inspired us was to do the right thing by these exceptional families. Their lawyer in Hong Kong, Robert Tibbo, is a fellow Montrealer. As Canadians, we felt it was important to not let these families behind.

On my part, I was @ 33C3 last year, and happened to attend this lecture

I knew that as a human being I had to help these people in any way I could. I talked to Robert Tibbo, who put me in touch with Marc, and I've been helping on the technical end of things in any way I can.

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We will be happy to submit more proof if requested, just reply to my message here or hit me up via PM.

OP will deliver.

Do you have plans to bring Edward Snowden to Canada as well? How likely is it that the US will retaliate against us for supporting people who helped an enemy of the US?

You can read the stories of our clients here:

Ajith

Vanessa

Supun and Nadeeka

We've also had reports that the Sri Lankan CID has been searching for our clients (see: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2073439/hong-kong-asylum-seekers-who-sheltered-edward-snowden-fear)

Sri Lanka's Security forces have a very poor record on human rights

*Edit: Whoops, I replied to the wrong question. Please disregard, my bad. (It was meant for another question from /u/Andy_Schlafly, will post this there.)

Obviously there will be people that want to come over and do harm, what is your plan?

That's not really in the scope of what we are doing. We're trying to help 3 families of refugees, who helped hide Edward Snowden in Hong Kong. They also have a well documented past.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada screens all applicants for any security concerns.

And I can tell you first hand it's a fairly extensive and comprehensive process, even for non refugees (study permit, work permit, PR).

[deleted]

I think there's a bit of a misunderstanding here. We're aiming to help 3 families of refugees, who helped hide Edward Snowden in Hong Kong. They are from Sri Lanka and the Philippines. They are:

Ajith

Vanessa

Supun and Nadeeka

Hello. Just wondering- what work do you do outside of bringing the refugees to Canada?

I'm a Systems Engineer/SRE/DevOps/Security guy (I wear many hats). I work remotely for a Y Combinator startup. I'd say which one, but we are a small org, so I'd be immediately identified. Management here is pretty sympathetic to this cause, and has been more than generous in letting me spend some time helping.

Marc and Michael are lawyers

Want to bring a Norwegian over? Hehe after i had to move from Canada back to Norway after my visa expired nothing has really felt the same(Also got my best friends and girlfriend over there). Don't get me wrong, Norway is beautiful and nothing to complain about. But it feels like it is not the place for me if that makes any sense. Regardless of that, from what i can see you guys are doing great work. And i highly respect what you guys do.

Is there any immigration lawyer i could contact by the way?

Thanks for your comments and question.

I'll preface this with IANAL, but I can speak to my personal experiences.

I've gone through the process to obtain a study permit, then a work permit, then a PR. Assuming you have needed skills and a clean criminal background, it's mostly a bureaucratic hassle if you are from a first world country (like Norway). You also have to do an English or French test to get your PR. I didn't use a lawyer.

The new express entry system for PR is, imho, pretty great. I was for example eligible for PR under the CEC and FSW classes, and with one application I was considered for both, and ended up coming in under the FSW class.

It's much, much better than the paper forms you used to have to fill out, imho.

They've also been modifying the criteria to make it more accommodating/reasonable, I see.

If you want to move to Quebec, the process is different, so I can't comment on that because I don't know. (I don't speak french at all, so Quebec was never an option I considered)

Overall, I'd say you don't necessarily need a lawyer, but if you still want one after my response, I can link to Marc's firm (or, you know, you can google his name from the bio, and add 'immigration lawyer' ;) ), assuming the mods approve of that.

This is such a great cause! What is a good way that I, as a fellow Canadian, can help assist in this effort? Further to that, how can the rest of the world help?

1. Call Minister Ahmed Hussen’s office (1-613-995-0777))

2. We can use non monetary help (everything from front end dev work, to compute credits, to social media presence)

3. Donations are also, of course, helpful.