Fearing for their lives in Jamaica, an aspiring Olympic athlete and his family have been granted the chance to stay in Canada, escaping the threat of deportation and finally finding safety.
Tamarri Lindo first arrived in Canada in 2019 when he was 15 years old, after his family’s ties in Jamaican politics led them to file for political asylum.
His father, George, was a volunteer with the opposition (The People’s National Party) in Jamaica, while his grandmother was also a Member of the Parliament for the opposition. George has said the family was targeted by gangs who supported the ruling party because he was successful at getting votes for the opposition, according to media reports.
“At first I was assuming [the trip to Canada] was to go on vacation, because my parents didn’t really tell me much [about what] was happening. But I realized [there] was so much danger because we were moving back and forth, because we had to go into hiding and stuff like that,” he told Now Toronto.
“We have had a lot of assassination attempts, like on my parents’ life, like mine and my family’s life…They tried to slash my father’s throat. They had a shooting [to] get [to] him, when he was running for his life. They were threatening to shoot up a car with me and all of my family.”
Now, six years later, Lindo and his family reside in Oakville, ON and he says Canada has become his main home.
Having spent most of his high school years in Canada, the now 21-year-old Lindo has become an accomplished athlete. He is currently the captain of York University’s hurdling team, where he is completing a degree in Health Studies. He is a gold and silver medalist at the Canada Summer Games, the current champion hurdler at the Ontario University Athletics, and No.1 hurdler in Ontario.
Lindo also hopes to represent Canada at the Olympics one day, having competed with—and defeated—Olympic athletes like Craig Thorne, who competed in Paris last year.
“I started coming to the track and decided to say, ‘OK, I’m going to train and this and that,’ and I met some other teammates, and a couple of years [go] by, I see that one of them made the national team…My mind kind of changed,” he said.
“Every time, when I see when they get selected for teams, and they get all this stuff, and they look at all like what it means to hold the Canadian flag… One day, I really hope I can lift [the Canadian] flag high and say, ‘Oh, I won an Olympics for Canada,’ or, ‘Oh, I’m a Canadian Olympian’…That’s what it means to me. [That has] always been my dream since I became 17 years old.”
He adds that he’s proud to be in Canada and considers this country his home.
“I feel like this is my main home, actually. I feel like I’ve been here for so long [that] I feel like the only thing I know right now is Canada. I know the anthem, I know other provinces…I learned about all the history in school, all of that stuff,” he said.
But Lindo’s dreams of staying in Canada and competing for the country were at risk after his family came close to being sent back to Jamaica.
FAMILY FACED DEPORTATION
When they first arrived in Canada, Lindo’s family filed a claim for political asylum. But without initial help from a lawyer or immigration expert, they hit a few bumps in the road.
The Lindos’ immigration lawyer Aidan Simardone tells Now Toronto that the family’s first asylum application was denied for not meeting all required standards. The family was facing deportation again after being called for an immigration interview, which could have signalled the beginning of a removal process.
“People mistakenly think it’s very easy. If refugee applications were easy…immigration lawyers and refugee lawyers wouldn’t exist,” Simardone said.
“This is a combination of bad factors. What we have here is a family that didn’t have a lawyer, and [a member of the immigration Refugee Board] who was scrutinizing them quite heavily so they didn’t have their refugee application approved. And as I’ve mentioned to others before, once you get that first refusal of a immigration refugee application, it’s very hard to then overcome that.”
The possibility of being sent back and having to face political violence in Jamaica had Lindo worried about his family’s future.
“’I’d never really want to, like, go to that extreme, but there can be a high potential possibility of death. I don’t want to even think in that way, but I know [that] I don’t want my little siblings to deal with [that]. I don’t want any of my family members to go through that again,” he said.
Although the young athlete hoped his accomplishments could help his family’s case and keep them in the country, the possibility of deportation was also affecting his performance.
“I’m trying to compete so that I can show my worth to Canada…But it’s like it’s in the back of my head to know that I really have to do this for my family. I love just doing this for me, [but] I have to try to help my family out as much as I can,” he said.
“Sometimes I can’t even train, sometimes I stress, I lose weight because of all the stress that’s on my head. We’re trying to keep up with school, trying to keep up with making sure me and my family are OK, trying to make sure that we get all of this sorted out. So, it has really been paying a big mental toll on me.”
Besides the possibility of being harmed, Simardone explains that humanitarian compassionate applications also take into account the applicants’ ties to Canada.
In this case, the lawyer points out that besides Lindo, his three younger siblings, two of whom are in their early teens and one who was born in Canada six years ago, have developed deep ties to the country. In addition, his parents, who both work blue collar jobs, have also developed their routines and joined a community.
“Everyone they know is in Canada. The community they are with is in Canada. The church they go to is in Canada. The opportunities they have are in Canada. Everything is Canada. These are effectively Canadians, and the government should just recognize that at a certain point, all their ties are here, and that’s why it’s also ridiculous to go forward with this,” Simardone added.
FAMILY NOW ABLE TO STAY
After increased public pressure and an online petition for the family that had more than 1,300 signatures by the time of publication, the family’s humanitarian and compassionate application has now been approved.
“We are relieved that the Lindos now have status granted. This was only possible because of the public pressure, everyone who shared about their case and signed the petition,” Simardone told Now Toronto on Friday.
With the family now free to remain in Canada, Lindo is now able to stay in the country and carry on with his hurdling training, hoping to one day become an Olympic athlete for the country he considers home.
