MONTREAL - After weeks of false starts, missing passports, court appeals and three dashes to the airport, Kankou Keita can finally unpack her bags.
Only hours before she was supposed to step onto a plan and leave for her native Guinea, Keita was informed Sunday morning that Immigration Minister Jason Kenney had intervened in her final deportation order.
Fearing that her young daughters would face forced marriages and genital mutilation in the troubled African country, Keita and her five children will be allowed to stay in Canada until federal bureaucrats can review her file.
Kenney's announcement came only hours after a federal judge refused a last-ditch appeal by the family. Salif Sangare, the Keita's lawyer, was only informed of the minister's intervention at 9:00 a.m., five hours before the woman and her two youngest boys were scheduled to board an Air France flight.
"I am extremely happy and I want to thank god, the minister of immigration, Quebecers and Canadians for making this possible," said Keita.
Standing near her, eight-year-old Abrahame echoed his mother's thanks.
The Keitas arrived in Canada five years ago, claiming status as refugees. After her application for refugee status was denied, Keita sent an asylum request—due to a mistake by her lawyer, the second request was never received.
"It's important to understand that discretionary powers aren't always used," said Sangare. "It's case by case, and in this case the minister felt that it was appropriate."
Attempts by Immigration Canada and the Canada Boarder Services Agency to evict the family failed in the past because of a lack of passports by Keita's younger children, and because the mother fell ill before a scheduled flight.
Keita's 17-year-old daughter, Zenab, suffers from hyperthyroidism—a condition her lawyer says cannot be treated in Guinea.
While Keita was living in Laval, a court order has limited the woman and her children to the island of Montreal. Since the deportation proceedings started, Keita lost her job at a factory and her two oldest children have had trouble attending school.
While Keita was praying on Sunday afternoon, a family friend confirmed that the woman will ask for her job back and will look at reenrolling her children in school as early as Monday.
