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The Road to Canada
Matthew Stevens /12 March 2008
"I have been referred to Canada!" Mahmoud [real name withheld] tells me with a smile. The vital phone call from the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cairo came ten days ago but this Iraqi pharmacist is still floating on air. A refugee in Cairo for the past year and a half, Mahmoud promptly filled out the necessary forms and carried them to the Canadian Embassy in Cairo. Now he keeps his hand near his mobile phone every minute of the day to make sure he doesn’t miss the next vital telephone call—from the Canadians.
Mahmoud and his family are among the lucky few from the 150,000 Iraqi refugees living in Egypt who have been referred by UNHCR for international resettlement. Within the growing community of Iraqi refugees in the Cairo suburb of 6 October City, Mahmoud knows no one else who is being considered by Canada. "When I asked [at] the UNHCR, she said I was the first one referred." UNHCR statistics estimate about four thousand Iraqi refugees have been resettled in Canada since 2003. Globally, Canada accepted 361 Iraqi refugees referred by UNHCR in 2006, the latest data available at the time of writing.
Mahmoud is desperate to escape his confined fund-strapped existence in Cairo where he can’t find work because he needs certification and a special work permit. But he tries to control his excitement at the prospect of living and working in Canada "The UNHCR told me that the Embassy of Canada… has the choice to accept or refuse the referral. It doesn’t mean they will agree. It will take from three to six months."
Mahmoud is not sure why his case was referred Citizenship and Immigration Canada. One reason could be that he already has family by marriage living in Canada. Also, both he and his wife speak good English and are health professionals with university degrees from Iraq. Part of the reason they want to leave Cairo is that although Mahmoud has obtained his pharmacy equivalency certification in Egypt there is little hope of employment. "They have 100,000 Egyptian pharmacists in Egypt and most have no work," he explains. "The same for Egyptian doctors and engineers."
The Iraqis living in Cairo tend to be highly educated professionals or had established careers in business management in Iraq. They fled to Cairo because they were prime targets for militias who kidnap people for pay stiff ransoms; Mahmoud himself was kidnapped and held for ransom. His face darkens as he recalls life in Baghdad. "In the street when we go to work we find three or four people killed. This scene is every day. Everyday there is an explosion of cars—life has become miserable in Iraq."
"When I asked the UNHCR why they referred me to Canada, they told me it was the only option available at this time," he remembers. He had hoped for Australia. "The weather is better," he jokes. He also knows an Australian Ph.D. lecturer while studying for his Egyptian equivalency certificate. They keep in touch by email. "She encouraged me to immigrate to Australia, but it has many requirements, hard requirements."
As soon as Mahmoud received news of referral to Canada, he went to the internet to research the country. He found it to be rich with opportunities for an educated person like himself. "Do they cultivate crops there?" he asks me. "I thought it was frozen all the time!"
The past is terrifying, the present is unsustainable, and the future is uncertain for Mahmoud and his family. But if granted a new life in Canada, Mahmoud has no lack of ambitions, hopes, and dreams. "First, I want to equalize my pharmacy certificate. The next step is to get a Master's degree--at least. It makes your position better. And most of all, to live in peace."
