CMR'nian family makes final plea to escape deportation

When Hilary Fuh-Cham came to Canada as a refugee claimant in 2007, he told immigration officials that he fled his native Cameroon because his wife and young daughter would have been subject to genital mutilation.

Fuh-Cham said he declined to become chief of his village because his Christian values clashed with many tribal traditions in his village in northwest Cameroon.

But his application for refugee status was turned down by the Immigration and Refugee Board in 2010 because the board did not find his story credible. His family’s two applications to remain in Canada on humanitarian grounds were also rejected.

So with just a few days before their scheduled deportation on Oct. 11, Fuh-Cham arrived in Federal Court on Tuesday with his family, including his two Canadian born children, to ask a judge to block the deportation. But before his lawyer, Stewart Istvanffy, uttered a word, Justice Simon Noël warned him that he had a “hard, steep hill to climb” to persuade him to issue a stay.

“I am not here to be a godfather or a grandfather,” Noel said as Fuh-Cham’s wife, Yvette and three children, age four to 12, looked on.

When Istvanffy said that Fuh-Cham’s life would be in danger if he returned to his village, the judge pointed out that it was highly unlikely the family would return to the village of Weh if tribal leaders were threatening his life.

Hilary Fuh-Cham, right, listens to his lawyer, Stewart Istvanffy, left, on the steps of the federal courthouse in Montreal on Tuesday Oct. 7, 2014.

The judge then suggested it would be possible for the family to settle safely in another part of Cameroon. But Istvanffy said the tribal chiefs would be able to track him down and kill him, in retaliation for spurning them. He said the family would be in danger “anywhere in Cameroon.”

About 50 members of the family’s church community in LaSalle came to court to offer their support. Fuh-Cham works as a manager at UPS, leads his church choir and is an active volunteer.

During the 90 minute hearing, Istvanffy said deporting the family would violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international law because his client’s life is in danger. Noël, however, seemed skeptical, saying that if the tribal leaders had such a grudge against Fuh-Cham why haven’t they harmed other family members who still live in the village?

Gretchen Timmins, a justice department lawyer, acknowledged that deporting a family that has been in Canada for many years is difficult. However, she said the IRB determined that the family’s story was not true and that they have had many chances to stay in Canada.

Noël took the case under advisement.

After the hearing, Fuh-Cham told The Gazette that his story is true and that his life would be in danger if he returned home. “I won’t be able to work or provide for my family in Cameroon,” he said.