by NOEMI LOPINTO

The sanctuary movement faced its first real challenge two weeks ago, when 12 Quebec City police officers barged into the Saint-Pierre United Church and arrested an Algerian asylum seeker, Mohamed Cherfi, on a technicality. Cherfi, a well-known activist for the rights of non-status Algerians, had been refused political asylum in Canada by Immigration Quebec for not being adequately "integrated" into Quebec society - despite being married to a Québécoise and being able to speak French fluently.

On February 18, rather than be deported, he entered the sanctuary of the church. In a statement released on the day he sought asylum, Cherfi wrote, "It is not with a cheerful heart that I have come to take this step; it was the only option possible... My deportation to Algeria via the United States will put my life in danger due to the systematic violation of human rights (disappearances, torture, imprisonment) that have taken place, principally against the defenders of human rights. For having been the spokesperson of the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians for almost two years, and having publicly expressed criticisms against the Algerian regime, I am exposed to serious risks." On March 5, he was suddenly arrested and transferred into the custody of Immigration Canada officials. Within hours he was in a U.S. immigration detention centre.

The principle of sanctuary dates back to antiquity and is based on the assumption that houses of worship are sacred places, and violence within its walls are sacrilegious. The United Church of Canada, Interfaith Sanctuary Coalition, No One Is Illegal, the Canadian Council for Refugees and other refugee rights groups condemned the arrest and the violation of that principle. Beginning last week, protesters across Canada targetted Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) offices, demanding the regularization of all non-status Algerians, an end to deportations, a return of the moratorium on deportations to Algeria and Cherfi's return to Canada. Refugee rights activists' main complaint is with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which became law in 2002. Under the Act, refugee status is granted or refused by a single Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) commissioner. The law contains a section granting the right of appeal for those refused, but has not been implemented. Refugee rights groups say this means wrongful decisions go uncorrected without appeal, and these decisions can cost a refugee's life. Until last week, seeking sanctuary was a peaceful means of resisting the law. But as the Cherfi case shows, the government can and will arrest asylum seekers and forcibly deport them. There are currently four other cases involving 12 people seeking sanctuary in Quebec, all of whom may now be facing a similar fate as Cherfi.

Ethiopian-born Menen Ayele, 44, and her three children have been in the Union United Church in Little Burgundy since August 5, 2003. She is a member of the Amhara ethnic group and was active in the All Amhara People's Organization (AAPO), a group defending the rights of the Amhara people. In 2001, Ayele says she was beaten, arrested and tortured for 20 days because of her involvement in the AAPO. Her husband, who had been associated with the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, disappeared around the same time. However, because she did not bear visible scars of torture and she was unable to provide her medical records from Ethiopia, the IRB rejected her case as "implausible." Ayele's subsequent application for permission to stay on humanitarian grounds was also rejected despite the fact that one of her children is Canadian, she has the support of a social worker's assessment as well as a medical report concluding that she suffers from a post-traumatic stress disorder. Ayele's lawyer, Mitch Goldberg, has filed a complaint with the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva, but might have to wait up to two years for a response.

Ayele is leery of the press, and her lawyer would not comment on her case. Union United's Reverend Darryl Gray has said it is not his church "flinging the doors open. It is the government that is forcing people into sanctuary... the government has sustained it and the government can end it."

Brothers Khalil, 67, and Nabih Ayoub, 69, and Nabih's wife, Thérèse Boulos Haddad, 62, sought asylum at the Notre Dame de Grâce Church in mid-February. They are Catholic Palestinians from refugee camps in Lebanon. Nabih and Khalil Ayoub say they fled Palestine-turned-Israel in 1948 and have been effectively homeless ever since. After the expulsion from Israel, the brothers lived in a refugee camp in Lebanon, where Nabih married Thérèse. But when war broke out between the Lebanese army and Christian and Muslim militias in 1975, the three escaped to West Beirut. Warring factions within Beirut forced the Ayoubs to move to Naima, 20 kilometres south of Beirut. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, and the Ayoubs moved back to Beirut. In 1985, they moved back to a refugee camp, Ein El Hilweh, which shortly became disputed ground between Hezbollah and other militant groups. The family came to Canada in April 2000. In January 2003, the IRB commissioner rejected their claim, saying the family could live safely in another Lebanese refugee camp, Dbayeh. All other avenues, including a risk assessment before CIC, were rejected. Their lawyer, Sabine Venturelli, is preparing an application on their behalf for permanent residency on humanitarian grounds.

Since July 2003, Alvaro Vega, 57, his wife Mireya, 56, and their daughter Marcela Vega, 20, have been living in St. Andrew's-Norwood Church basement in Ville-St-Laurent. They sleep in what used to be the conference room. Alvaro Vega was a university professor in Colombia, who denounced the kidnapping of a former student by Colombian government security forces at the beginning of 2001. He gave interviews and public lectures on human rights and environmental law in and around Bogota. He says he received death threats, and was kidnapped and tortured in June 2001. Two subsequent attempts were made on his life. In October, Vega arrived in Canada with his wife and daughter. To prepare for his refugee hearing, Vega hired an immigration consultant to translate and record his experiences in Colombia. The consultant made an error on Vega's written explanation of his persecution for his Personal Information Form, creating an apparent contradiction in his story. The IRB rejected Vega's claim, mostly because of this error. The Board refused to accept the consultant's explanation that the error was his fault.

Alvaro Vega's daughter, Marcela, says their current situation is very hard. "I hope the Canadian government will fix this mistake. I understand humans make mistakes, but when you do you have to fix them. That's what I want. What I hope the most is to breathe, to go out and live a normal life like everybody. As a human I have that right."

Outside of Montreal, a father and daughter, also from Colombia, sought sanctuary in July 2003 in the Unitarian Universalist North Hatley, in Quebec's Eastern Townships. They were recently permitted to leave Canada for the sanctuary of a church in the U.S. They are hoping to re-apply for Canadian citizenship. For the past six months, St. Mark's Anglican Church in Halifax has kept Sanya Pecelj from being deported to Serbia. In Ottawa, another Unitarian Universalist church has provided a man from Bangladesh with sanctuary for three months. There have also been sanctuary cases in Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and British Columbia.