METRO VANCOUVER -- A Metro Vancouver man with a lengthy criminal record would face undue hardship if deported to his native Somalia, the Federal Court of Canada has ruled.
Salah Awil Abdillahi, 26, has racked up 22 convictions, and faces two outstanding charges, since coming to Canada with his mother a decade ago.
And he’s had over 135 separate encounters with the police since he became a permanent resident here.
But Abdillahi is also an alcoholic who suffered brain damage when he was hit by a bus in September 2013, Judge Russell Zinn noted in his Oct. 23 decision.
And if Abdillahi were sent back to Somalia where he has no support, his prospects would be extremely bleak, Zinn said.
“Mr. Abdillahi is a cognitively-disabled recidivist-offender alcoholic with minimal work experience, access to resources, or social supports,” Zinn said. “He falls squarely within the category of persons identified in the documentary evidence that are unlikely to be able to get by in Mogadishu without experiencing undue hardship.”
Abdillahi has already lost his permanent resident status after being found “inadmissible on the grounds of serious criminality,” the ruling said.
He then requested a pre-removal risk assessment to determine if he could be safely returned to Somalia. An immigration department official said Abdillahi would be all right in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.
But Zinn disagreed, saying “Abdillahi has limited family connections in Somalia.”
“His father lives in Somalia but he has had no contact with him since 2007, and does not know where he lives. Similarly, he also has aunts and uncles in Somalia, but does not know where they live,” Zinn said.
Another problem are tattoos Abdillahi has that he says would identify him as being “westernized and not a Muslim.”
His tattoos include the words Outlaw, love, and the acronym SOG for ‘Somalia Original Gangster’ on his forearms.
“Mr. Abdillahi does not know which clan he belongs to and submits that he will be at risk in Somalia without the social and protective support of a clan,” Zinn said.
Zinn also called the immigration official’s finding that Abdillahi could successfully find work in Mogadishu “perverse” given his history in Canada.
“Mr. Abdillahi worked as a forklift driver for a total of four months between his arrival in Canada in 2005 and his removal hearing in 2014. Aside from these four months, he did not work at all while in Canada. Needless to say, and notwithstanding the contrary conclusion of the officer, this work experience does not bode well for Mr. Abdillahi’s economic prospects in Mogadishu,” Zinn said.
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