CANADA NOT GOOD ENOUGH?

This is quite interesting: we often read about people who come to Canada and pleased not to be deported to their countries of origin. However, in the case below, the reverse is happening, a Canadian citizen has gone eon a hunger strike to avoid being sent back to Canada from Australia!!!! Go figure...


The Canadian Press: Canadian hunger striker wins reprieve from Australian deportation


Canadian hunger striker wins reprieve from Australian deportation

(CP) – 1 day ago

MELBOURNE, Australia — A Canadian citizen, who had staged a hunger strike to protest his planned deportation from Australia, has won a reprieve.
Ziad Chebib left the Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre in Melbourne on Wednesday, the same day he was scheduled to be deported to Canada. His supporters said Chebib was released on a temporary visa with no work rights.
They said he learned that his deportation had been cancelled when he was visited by immigration officials Tuesday night.
The 49-year-old Lebanese-Canadian went on a hunger strike last week after exhausting all appeals to live in Australia.
Many of his relatives have settled in Australia, including some of his children.
Chebib failed to meet the requirements of the visa he was granted to live in the country in 2000 and has been fighting to stave off deportation for several years.
The Australian media quoted Chebib as saying that he will continue his hunger strike until his wife and elder son join him in Melbourne.
Chebib has said he tried to appeal to Canadian diplomats earlier this year, but was rebuffed. He said the diplomats told him they had no say in an Australian immigration matter.
Chebib emigrated to Canada from Lebanon in 1976, becoming a citizen and starting up a limousine business in Calgary.
In 2000, he and his family moved to Australia because two of his siblings already lived there.
Chebib was allowed in the country on a business visa but he was unable to make the income he needed to justify the visa. Both his wife and one of his sons developed health problems and his finances became overstretched, he said.

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