I feel like a dog that has been fed to the wolves. But I am a tough old dog and will survive. 2 days ago a news article from the Canadian Press was released about my struggle. By trying to tell my story to the country I have exposed myself to the attacks of frustrated people that have never had even a 5 sec. conversation with me. The worst part of it is the hate that has been directed at my family. Many questions have been asked about me and how can my story be true:
"there is no way some one can live off grid all his life"
"why didn't he try to resolve this earlier?"
"he never paid taxes he got what he deserved"
Through this I have had the support of family and friends, and now the community is learning my story and showing support. There was even an online petition started by a woman that I have never met and truth be said I probably never will. But she took the time to try and help me and I am forever grateful to her.
If you are stateless in Canada and are fortunate enough to have access to this, please add your voices and start to be heard.
I have always been the dog nobody wanted. That is how I have felt for most all of my life. In truth a dog has more rights than I do in Canada. I lived in fear for most of my life because of the very hatred and betrayal that has come again in the last few days. What do you do when you've been threatened by people everywhere you go because you are not one of them? You hide with in plain sight. The person next to you at the checkout might just be stateless and you will never know because a stateless person will NEVER tell someone about their situation, because eventually someone will betray you.
Those of us that are fortunate to have family, rely on them for help and limited support. But for most of us that have no family we move. I have lived a nomadic life. Never trust because people betray, that was my motto. Finding work is easy if you know how to use your hands. I have unloaded 45,000lbs of produce on grocery warehouse docks for $50 so I could have food for a few days because I could not work at a real job. When I had enough for food and a book I would move on. But there were many times where I worked for someone on the promise of pay only to be told when I was done to leave town or the police were going to be called or they just plain threatened to kill me. I have gone a week with no food because I could not find work.
Canada is a HUGE country. I had more to see before I was ready to settle down, besides it wasn't like I could go anywhere else. But you have to always watch over your shoulder because you do not want to be in a situation where you have to show ID. Even immigration in the early days had no idea what to do with people like me. Truth is they still do not because no political party in Canada's history has had the courage or compassion to help people like myself. So we still live in fear of being deported to countries we have no connection to.
Heaven forbid you fall in love as a stateless person. And forget about having a family. These are things we can only dream about. Because how can you have anything when it can all be taken away by one betrayal? But I went against my own rules and fell instantly in love with Julie. I trusted her like no one before she was the one who showed me how to be proud and not feel like a dog. Then we had twins. and 15 months later we had another child. They are the greatest loves of my life. My family gives me the strength to keep fighting against the sea of negativity that has and will continue long after this is resolved. But those of us that have families still live in daily fear that the next knock at the door is Immigration coming to take you to God knows where and will this be the last day I see my wife and children.
No one should have to watch their children watch you die. No one should have their 7 year old daughter say "Daddy it's not fair that no one will help you, I don't want you to die". Not in Canada or any other country on earth should this happen. That is why I when I found out I was not alone in this issue and that others were being threatened as I am, I could not remain silent any longer. With my last breath I will continue to fight for the rights of stateless people all over the world. But first we need to start here in Canada.
I had no idea the word "stateless" even existed until I started to educate myself on how to finally get this issue resolved. And when I mention the word stateless to people in conversation it is surprising how few actually know what the term means. This has to change and hopefully out of all of this at least I have made people aware what a stateless person is. There are many of us, but no one knows just how many because we hide. This needs to change.
We hide because we do not fit into what is written into law here in Canada. There is no section of the immigration rules for dealing with statelessness. So where do we start? If you’re brave enough you go see the local MP and ask them what to do and the conversation always ends the same "sorry there is nothing I can do for you". So eventually you forget about trying because it's the same thing over and over. So you go on living as best as you can.
But it always comes back to the fact that someone will betray you eventually, then the real nightmare begins. Canada Border service agents show up at your door with RCMP because you might be a terrorist. They will interview you for about 10 minutes. After lecturing you about how in their XXX years of service they have never met anyone without ID and I must be hiding something. In these 10 minutes they form an opinion about you. Now they are looking for you to hang yourself because they have received a complaint that you are a foreign person living on Canadian soil. But because you are stateless and have no real rights or understanding of the citizenship and immigration laws you are guilty, you will be issued an order of removal. But when you are cleared of the removal order now you have to deal with CIC. YOU ARE NOT CANADIAN TO ANYONE AT CIC. The burden of proof lies on you not them.
Then you learn what real suffering is. Because you are never going to find your way through the endless line of red tape and endless demands, unless you get help. But who can a stateless person get to help them, especially when you have no money? And who even knows what to do for us when even the politicians in Ottawa don't know? So you go on trying to survive.
I wish no one to go through the bashing and degradation that I have had to endure these last few days but I will gladly do it again if it will help others like me to have a sense of hope. I know my time on this earth is short and I will never see a real change for the stateless of the world but I hope I have at least in a small way helped set the ball of change into motion. I am not dead yet and I will continue to use my voice to help those that need it the most.
Many may think my parents were wrong in their choice and I am to blame for waiting for so long to speak, but they do not know what real fear is. The greatest lesson I learned from my parents that I have passed on to my children is compassion.
Thank you Jocelyn for this forum. I hope others learn of this place and can contribute to a meaningful dialog on how to help stateless persons in Canada get recognized. Hang in there Heather, I am doing this for you and the others so you do not have to carry such a heavy burden.
This old dog still has a little life left and I'm not afraid anymore.
Donovan McGlaughlin
"there is no way some one can live off grid all his life"
"why didn't he try to resolve this earlier?"
"he never paid taxes he got what he deserved"
Through this I have had the support of family and friends, and now the community is learning my story and showing support. There was even an online petition started by a woman that I have never met and truth be said I probably never will. But she took the time to try and help me and I am forever grateful to her.
If you are stateless in Canada and are fortunate enough to have access to this, please add your voices and start to be heard.
I have always been the dog nobody wanted. That is how I have felt for most all of my life. In truth a dog has more rights than I do in Canada. I lived in fear for most of my life because of the very hatred and betrayal that has come again in the last few days. What do you do when you've been threatened by people everywhere you go because you are not one of them? You hide with in plain sight. The person next to you at the checkout might just be stateless and you will never know because a stateless person will NEVER tell someone about their situation, because eventually someone will betray you.
Those of us that are fortunate to have family, rely on them for help and limited support. But for most of us that have no family we move. I have lived a nomadic life. Never trust because people betray, that was my motto. Finding work is easy if you know how to use your hands. I have unloaded 45,000lbs of produce on grocery warehouse docks for $50 so I could have food for a few days because I could not work at a real job. When I had enough for food and a book I would move on. But there were many times where I worked for someone on the promise of pay only to be told when I was done to leave town or the police were going to be called or they just plain threatened to kill me. I have gone a week with no food because I could not find work.
Canada is a HUGE country. I had more to see before I was ready to settle down, besides it wasn't like I could go anywhere else. But you have to always watch over your shoulder because you do not want to be in a situation where you have to show ID. Even immigration in the early days had no idea what to do with people like me. Truth is they still do not because no political party in Canada's history has had the courage or compassion to help people like myself. So we still live in fear of being deported to countries we have no connection to.
Heaven forbid you fall in love as a stateless person. And forget about having a family. These are things we can only dream about. Because how can you have anything when it can all be taken away by one betrayal? But I went against my own rules and fell instantly in love with Julie. I trusted her like no one before she was the one who showed me how to be proud and not feel like a dog. Then we had twins. and 15 months later we had another child. They are the greatest loves of my life. My family gives me the strength to keep fighting against the sea of negativity that has and will continue long after this is resolved. But those of us that have families still live in daily fear that the next knock at the door is Immigration coming to take you to God knows where and will this be the last day I see my wife and children.
No one should have to watch their children watch you die. No one should have their 7 year old daughter say "Daddy it's not fair that no one will help you, I don't want you to die". Not in Canada or any other country on earth should this happen. That is why I when I found out I was not alone in this issue and that others were being threatened as I am, I could not remain silent any longer. With my last breath I will continue to fight for the rights of stateless people all over the world. But first we need to start here in Canada.
I had no idea the word "stateless" even existed until I started to educate myself on how to finally get this issue resolved. And when I mention the word stateless to people in conversation it is surprising how few actually know what the term means. This has to change and hopefully out of all of this at least I have made people aware what a stateless person is. There are many of us, but no one knows just how many because we hide. This needs to change.
We hide because we do not fit into what is written into law here in Canada. There is no section of the immigration rules for dealing with statelessness. So where do we start? If you’re brave enough you go see the local MP and ask them what to do and the conversation always ends the same "sorry there is nothing I can do for you". So eventually you forget about trying because it's the same thing over and over. So you go on living as best as you can.
But it always comes back to the fact that someone will betray you eventually, then the real nightmare begins. Canada Border service agents show up at your door with RCMP because you might be a terrorist. They will interview you for about 10 minutes. After lecturing you about how in their XXX years of service they have never met anyone without ID and I must be hiding something. In these 10 minutes they form an opinion about you. Now they are looking for you to hang yourself because they have received a complaint that you are a foreign person living on Canadian soil. But because you are stateless and have no real rights or understanding of the citizenship and immigration laws you are guilty, you will be issued an order of removal. But when you are cleared of the removal order now you have to deal with CIC. YOU ARE NOT CANADIAN TO ANYONE AT CIC. The burden of proof lies on you not them.
Then you learn what real suffering is. Because you are never going to find your way through the endless line of red tape and endless demands, unless you get help. But who can a stateless person get to help them, especially when you have no money? And who even knows what to do for us when even the politicians in Ottawa don't know? So you go on trying to survive.
I wish no one to go through the bashing and degradation that I have had to endure these last few days but I will gladly do it again if it will help others like me to have a sense of hope. I know my time on this earth is short and I will never see a real change for the stateless of the world but I hope I have at least in a small way helped set the ball of change into motion. I am not dead yet and I will continue to use my voice to help those that need it the most.
Many may think my parents were wrong in their choice and I am to blame for waiting for so long to speak, but they do not know what real fear is. The greatest lesson I learned from my parents that I have passed on to my children is compassion.
Thank you Jocelyn for this forum. I hope others learn of this place and can contribute to a meaningful dialog on how to help stateless persons in Canada get recognized. Hang in there Heather, I am doing this for you and the others so you do not have to carry such a heavy burden.
This old dog still has a little life left and I'm not afraid anymore.
Donovan McGlaughlin
