Posts tagged ‘Abdelkader Belaouni’
The individualized assessment: how the Hilewitz and De Jong cases played out in Abdelkader Belaouni’s struggles against immigration controls and ableism
Abdelkader Belaouni’s struggle for status in Canada lasted 3 years, 9 month and 22 days. This is the amount of time Belaouni spent at Montreal’s St Gabriel Church since January 1, 2006 until the long-awaited granting of his status in September, 2009. Prior to the legalization of his status, Belaouni found sanctuary in this Montreal Church as his only alternative to evading a deportation order. Having lost his vision earlier in life, Belaouni’s story has become a living example of a hero who not only won the victory against immigration controls, but also surmounted ableism within Canada’s immigration system.
Belaouni’s legal struggles showcase many of the obstacles that disabled applicants face in pursuit of legal status in Canada. What is the attitude of Canada’s immigration system towards disabled applicants? What does medical inadmissibility entail in the context of Canadian immigration law? In order to address these questions, it is important to describe Belaouni’s legal struggles in relation to two commonly cited cases on disability and immigration law in Canada, the Hilewitz and De Jong cases.[1]
The Algerian man who had lost his eyesight in his mid-twenties, fled to New York City in 1996 after a civil war unraveled in his country. Apprehensive about his future in the USA, a country where racial prejudice had spiked following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Belaouni sought refuge in Canada in March 2003. He was denied…
