Pakistani family marks 1 year living in church

A Winnipeg church is marking an anniversary without cause for celebration: a family of eight has sought sanctuary within its walls for 365 days.

Hassan Raza, Sarfraz Kausar and their six children have been living in the Crescent Fort Rouge United Church since Aug. 3, 2006 to avoid deportation to Pakistan, where they say they would face religious persecution.

A vigil for the family will be held beginning at 2 p.m. Thursday.

"We'll have people offering some leadership or reflection every hour on the hour for a brief time, and the rest of the time will be spent kind of in quiet contemplation," said Barb Janes, minister at the church.

"This will go on for 24 hours, which will take us into Friday at the conclusion, 2 p.m., which is about the time I received the phone call asking us if we would consider taking this family into sanctuary."

Winnipeg South Centre MP Anita Neville will attend the vigil; she has called onfederal immigration officials for intervention in the family's case, but says so far, her calls have fallen on deaf ears.

"We have written to both [former] minister [Monte] Solberg and minister [Diane] Finley many, many times saying that these are children who see their future in Canada.There is no reason not to grant them status here on humanitarian and compassionate grounds," she said.

"Mr. Raza has a job. I've gone into his employer over the weekend he will take him back. He's a good worker.They will be good, fine, upstanding Canadian citizens and it's time for this government to acknowledge that."

Volunteer team

Janes said the year in the church has been emotionally difficult for the family.

A team of church volunteers has been taking care of the two adults and six children, two of whom were born in Canada and are Canadian citizens. Four of the children were allowed to attend school, under escort, from February to the end of the school year.

Janes said she was saddened when one of the daughters recently told her about a dream she'd had: "She said in her dream she heard me jump for joy, and then I came upstairs and said to the family, 'The government has said that we are allowed to stay in Canada. We can go to our house.' To hear that from a seven-year-old child is just heartbreaking.

"That has long been the position of our congregation and the wider United Church: that the well-being of these children is not going to be served by sending them to Pakistan."

The Raza family fled Pakistan in 1998 and had been living in New York Citywhen the city was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. They then came to Canada.

The family has filed an application to stay in Canada on compassionate and humanitarian grounds.

In November, the federal Immigration Department turned down their appeal to leave sanctuary and live in Winnipeg while the application is reviewed.

The family sought refuge in the church after a Federal Court rejected their refugee claim based on the threat of religious persecution.

Hassan Raza is a Shia Muslim, while Kausar is Sunni and the family fears persecution in the predominantly Sunni Muslim country.