Name: The Dean Family

Profile: Family of four Pakistani Christians in Malaysia

Opportunity: Getting them to Canada through legal action

Place of Origin: Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Current location: Malaysia

Risk: Staying in a state of refugee limbo in Malaysia. Imprisonment and possible death sentence if family returns to Pakistan.

Urgency: Critical. Legal application must be submitted within 30 days

A CLOSE-KNIT FAMILY

I have a friend named Suleman*. For over 3 years, he’s shared details of his life as a Christian Pakistani refugee living in Malaysia. They fled due to religious persecution, and now he is not allowed to work legally and struggles to keep his family safe.

He takes any under-the-table job he can get—usually unloading trucks—so his three young kids have a place to live, food to eat, and enough money to go to school. His wife, Hania*, was a teacher before they fled Pakistan, but died of breast cancer last year. Suleman and his three children share a small apartment with another family, and their kids are always hungry. (Read their original story , dated 2021, here).

Despite these setbacks, the children remain positive and are highly accomplished, receiving medals of achievement at their school. They want to be a doctor, an engineer, and a pastor. But their dreams depend on coming to Canada.

THE CRUEL SETBACK

In 2021, a Sponsorship Agreement Holder in Brampton, Ontario graciously agreed to sponsor this family to come to Canada through our private sponsorship Canada. On July 29, 2024, the family was interviewed at the Canadian embassy in Kuala Lumpur to assess their eligibility.

Unfortunately, in August, the family was told they were being refused. The reason? The interviewer had doubts that they faced persecution as Christians in Pakistan.

The decision is unfair, showing a lack of awareness of the well-documented persecution of Christians in Pakistan. The country has a notorious blasphemy law that is overwhelmingly used to oppress Christians and leave them vulnerable to property seizure and other abuses. The penalty for the blasphemy law is death.

WHO I AM

I am Stephen Watt, the co-founder of Northern Lights Canada , and I’ve known this family since 2021. I helped their friend Marcy Franck connect the family to a Sponsorship Agreement Holder that applied to bring the Deans to Canada through the private sponsorship program. I have also introduced the family to a law firm that has agreed to take on their case. Landings Law has been rated the top immigration law firm in Canada.

WHAT’S NEXT

Once I raise the money, I pay it directly to the law firm to manage their fees. According to Canadian immigration rules, the family has 30 days to launch an appeal of their negative decision. The law firm has read the decision by immigration and has a strong belief the appeal will succeed.

Please, if you can, make a donation and help this family keep their dream of coming to Canada alive.

Also, please share this post! Together we can make a difference.