This canada is a racist country who hate immigrants.
Adetutu Olawore, centre, poses with her children Adetunji, 13, right, Adenike, 10, left, and Adewale, 6, at iCheck Inn Motel on Howard Avenue, Monday July 23, 2018. The family is from Nigeria.
To save her little girl from being tortured, Adetutu Olawore left behind everything she owned and fled from her family in the middle of the night.
With her in-laws in Nigeria demanding her 10-year-old daughter be circumcised — a barbaric procedure also known as female genital mutilation — Olawore saw no choice but to run.
After an odyssey that took her from Nigeria to Houston, to New York and Montreal, Olawore and her three children arrived in Windsor three months ago with dreams of finding a new home and living in peace.
But like many hopeful refugee claimants drawn to Windsor with stories of easy-to-get and affordable housing, Olawore spent months having rental applications denied and doors slammed in her face.
Despite that, she is happy to be here. Homeless in Canada is still better than the nightmare alternative.
“I left Nigeria because of my daughter. She’s in danger,” said Olawore, 40. “It’s not safe for women and girls. Actually, it’s not safe for anybody in Nigeria now. We have lots of killing, kidnapping. Girls are kidnapped, abused.”
Adetutu Olawore, right, and her children Adetunji, 13, left, Adenike, 10, Adewale, 6, at iCheck Inn Motel on Howard Avenue, Monday July 23, 2018. Nick Brancaccio / Windsor Star
Mike Morency, executive director of the Matthew House Refugee Welcome Centre, said Olawore’s plight is one example of Windsor’s growing housing crisis taking a toll on Canadian citizens and new arrivals alike.
Between June 2017 and June 2018, the median cost of a two-bedroom apartment in Windsor jumped nearly 10 per cent to $930 a month, according to a study called the Canadian National Rent Report.
Morency said a shortage of rental properties has allowed landlords to demand higher prices and be pickier about potential tenants.
He said additional barriers for refugees include lack of credit history, their short time in the country, the fact that they’re receiving Ontario Works, and even their accents.
“At this point there’s a lack of housing, period, affordable or not,” said Morency. “I think that we are already experiencing an affordable housing crisis. People are coming into our community looking for employment, or looking for safety and a fresh start, and there is no place for them that’s affordable.”
Olawore is hoping for a new start in Windsor after a year of upheaval. She married into a “royal family,” a prominent clan in their region. Last year, her husband’s family ordered that her daughter, Adenike, be circumcised on her 10th birthday.
“I never knew that’s what’s done to girls born into that family,” she said. “I can’t allow something to happen to her. They said it’s a custom, a tradition.”
When Olawore and Adenike were summoned to receive the orders, the young girl’s aunt was being circumcised.
“We were hearing the cries of agony, shouting,” said Olawore. “It’s not done in a hospital. If this was Nigeria, they can do it right here in the room. They just put a mat on the floor and some ladies will hold the girl, and another lady will cut whatever they want to do.”
There is no anesthetic. No sterilized equipment. No doctor.
We found out about Canada, and that Canada has a third country policy of helping people. They welcome them with open hands, give them shelter. I just packed my kids, left everything behind.
“My daughter, she heard the crying,” said Olawore. “When it was done, the ladies that did it came out. My daughter saw the blood. She saw her auntie coming out, who couldn’t walk. She knew that was what she was going to go through. She kind of freaked out.”
At first, Olawore said, her husband demanded submission because it’s a family tradition.
“I made him see reason,” she said. “My people, my own family, made him see reason that this is archaic. With so much persuasion, he accepted.”
They started mapping out a plan. They sold their car and other belongings. Olawore cashed in an inheritance from her late mother.
Early on the foggy morning of July 7, 2017, Olawore and her children fled.
She pulled her kids out of school before they finished exams, so they could disappear before the holidays began.
“If it was during the holidays, people would know that the kids are home,” said Olawore. “School, they would think they’re gone to school, maybe they went very early. So we left around 4 a.m. We were the only ones on the road.”
Her husband, Samson, waved to them as their taxi disappeared into the early morning darkness.
“He stayed behind to face whatever consequences might arise,” said Olawore, who hopes Samson can join them if they are granted refugee status. “For now, he’s been disowned from the family.”
She and the children landed in the U.S. on July 8. A church in Houston helped them find temporary shelter and gave them food.
Olawore started researching the difficult task of seeking asylum in the U.S., where she said the process is costly, and there is no legal aid or help getting settled.
Canada popped up in the search engine results.
“We found out about Canada, and that Canada has a third country policy of helping people,” said Olawore. “They welcome them with open hands, give them shelter. I just packed my kids, left everything behind.”
The church helped them with transportation. They flew from Houston to New York. On Oct. 29, 2017 they took a bus to Montreal where they claimed refugee status.
But Olaware was repeatedly turned away from job applications because she can’t speak French. The kids didn’t cope well with language barriers.
A friend told her about Windsor.
“She said Windsor is a nice community, good place to raise kids,” said Olawore. “She said the accommodation was affordable.”
She loaded the kids on a train and headed to Windsor. They hooked up with Matthew House, which helped Olawore enroll her kids in school, do immigration paperwork, and sign up for Ontario Works.
But finding a home wasn’t so easy.
“The housing was not how my friend told me, that she could get a two-bedroom for $700,” said Olawore. “People discovered that Windsor is a nice place to reside in with kids. The market went up and houses are expensive now.”
After months of living in a cramped Howard Avenue motel room, Olawore recently secured a three-bedroom apartment for $1,800, plus utilities. She and her three children will share the apartment with another mother and two kids.
Her share of the rent will be $1,000. Olawore gets $744 a month for shelter from Ontario Works. To pay for the rest, she’ll have to chip away at her $354 monthly allowance for food and other basic needs.
Despite that, she considers herself lucky. She knows many others are still hoping for such fortune.
“We’re seeing a number coming to Windsor after trying to get themselves established in Montreal or Toronto, and not being able to find housing,” said Morency. “In Montreal, many of them that are coming right now are English speaking and they can’t get employment, and they can’t find a place for themselves in that community. So they’re kind of doing some secondary migration down to Windsor.”
The flow of refugees doesn’t seem to be slowing. The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada said it has more than 30,000 claims waiting to be processed, with thousands more people regularly crossing the border seeking asylum.
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By June of this year, the RCMP had intercepted 10,744 people crossing the border outside of an official entry point. The Canada Border Services Agency, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, had processed 25,710 asylum claimants.
Last year, the RCMP intercepted 20,593 people making “irregular” crossings, while the CBSA and IRCC processed 50,445 asylum claimants.
Jelena Payne, Windsor’s community development and health commissioner, said the city does not track how many refugee claimants are here.
She said about 4,700 people are on a waitlist for affordable or social housing with the city.
Since January 2015, Morency said Matthew House has housed 104 refugee claimants. It had to turn away another 308 people. Most of those people are likely still waiting for hearings. He pointed out that Matthew House is not the only local agency helping people.
He said three refugee families are currently staying at Matthew House. The organization has also arranged shelter for 12 other refugee claimant families, totaling nearly 50 people. Two of the families are in host homes.
“That’s a program we’re growing to try and alleviate this problem,” said Morency. “Families, individuals in the community, who are willing to share their homes with refugee claimants.”
The rest of the families are staying in local hotels, with funding from the City of Windsor.
Morency said the refugees who have found places are paying anywhere from $1,300 to $1,800 a month. A family of six or more is eligible for $831 a month for shelter from Ontario Works.
“If they pay more than that, it’s coming out of money that is provided for food,” he said.
Hassan Al-Hadidi, his wife Eman, and their five children, between the ages of one and 11, have been staying in the same motel as Olawore. Theirs is a cramped room with two beds and a small pullout couch.
With rents ranging from $1,600 to $1,800 a month, plus utilities, Al-Hadidi said he’s unable to find an affordable place.
“Even if I am working eight hours a day, how much can I make?” said Al-Hadidi, 41, from Jordan. “I can make maybe $25, $30 an hour. But if I have to pay that rent for a house, this can be hard.”
Refugee parents Eman Alhadidi and her husband Hasan Alhadidi, centre, with daughters Sajeda, left, and Salsabeelah, and sons Mohammad, Ali and Khaled, right, in their room at iCheck Inn Motel on Howard Avenue, Monday July 23, 2018. The refugee family is from Jordan. Nick Brancaccio / Windsor Star
Al-Hadidi said they fled their country for fear that his family would kill his wife.
The problems began when Eman’s brother married Al-Hadidi’s sister, then divorced her. After that, both families demanded all ties be severed.
“The family get crazy,” said Al-Hadidi. “They want me to divorce my wife and then kick my wife out. They want us to divorce, but we don’t want. We got good family. We like it and we want to keep it together to protect them.”
They felt their only option was to run. If they had stayed, Al-Hadidi believes someone in his family would have hurt or killed his wife.
The family first arrived in Nashville, where they lived for a few years. Al-Hadidi, a certified welder and fabricator who worked on oil pipelines in Jordan, got a truck and some tools and went to work doing odd jobs to support his family.
Mother Eman Alhadidi, left, holds her son Mohammad, 1, as her other sons Ali, right, and Khaled have some fun with the photographer at iCheck Inn Motel on Howard Avenue, Monday July 23, 2018. The refugee family is from Jordan. Nick Brancaccio / Windsor Star
But after Donald Trump was elected, their tranquility disappeared.
“The little one, he was born in United States,” said Al-Hadidi. “Then Trump is making trouble for people. He start to take the family and leave the children. We see this on the street, we see this on TV. We’re scared.”
Eman saw videos on YouTube about people going to Canada. They left most of their possessions in the house they rented. A neighbor promised to sell the belongings and send the money, then stopped answering his phone.
“He stole all my stuff,” said Al-Hadidi. “That’s okay. It’s difficult to start from zero, to build up, with a family. But it’s okay. I’ll manage. No problem.”
In March, the family drove east, sold their 2008 Chrysler for $200 near the Canadian border and made the walk into Quebec with other asylum seekers.
The language was too much of a barrier, so they headed to Windsor while waiting to learn their fates.
Al-Hadidi has yet to find a job or a home for his family, but they are happy. Life is already better here.
“Canada is a good country,” he said. “I can support my children here better and work. We hear much about Canada, the respect for the people. Canada is beautiful.”
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