Help Bahraini refugee stay in Canada

Dear friends,

For those of you who don’t know me– My name is Fatima. I’m from the Kingdom of Bahrain, and my family has been harassing and bullying me because I choose no to practice Islam or wear the hijab. I came to Canada in 2017 to study. I had to fight to actually come here and escape the oppressive conditions of my family. I studied and graduated here in Canada, and have built a life for myself here with my partner and friends, but now all of that is at risk of being taken away from me.

Most of you will know by now that I have been in a fight to gain refugee status in Canada following death threats I received from my extended family in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. After coming out to my family as an atheist, I was immediately disowned, cut off financially, and left to find the means to make it on my own in a foreign country, which I did. One day I posted a TikTok video with no hijab next to my partner Adam, which family members in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia somehow saw. After this I received warnings of being found and honour killed in the name of Islam and their reputation which they accused me of smearing. Before this all happened, I was denied a Work Permit to Canada over a technicality. My only option left here is to apply to stay in the country as a refugee.

The catch is that I have nothing to give my legal representative as payment to keep her on as counsel. I was forced to remain unemployed for over six months while the Government decided whether I could qualify for a Temporary Work Permit, while the IRCC ruled on whether I could qualify to be a refugee claimant; the summary is that I have zero savings. There has also been a complication in my case which has forced my lawyer to switch to an hourly rate, increasing the cost of my legal fees. This means I have to raise at least $6000 dollars to cover the 20+ hours of legal representation I will need to get through my hearing. If I don’t keep this lawyer I will lose the battle for refugee status, the state will deport me, and I will be back in Bahrain where I will either be hurt or killed or in the mildest case, trapped.

Already, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship drafted a letter to me rebutting my claim for status on the grounds of primarily technical errors. I can’t fathom this being why I’m denied a home here and sent back to the one place I can’t be safe.

Friends, I know times are very tough. I am not usually one to ask for help, but I am left with no options. Without paying my legal fees, I will lose my case and be forced to leave my home. Adam and I have racked our brains to think of how we can cover the expenses ourselves, but we live paycheque to paycheque and can’t afford to raise the money alone. The hearing to decide my claim could be placed any day now, meaning we are also on a time crunch to raise these funds. Thank you so much, and I’m sorry for asking you for help for the second time. I hope you can understand my story and that this nightmare can end soon.

Any donation, no matter how small, will mean the world. I will completely understand if you can’t donate, but you can still help by sharing this with others.

Thank you to every person that has supported me so far. I hope I can be as good a friend to you as you have been to me.

Lots of love,

Fatima

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