A Hamilton family set to be deported Sunday after being denied refugee status has been granted a stay.
“We are very happy not to have to leave tomorrow,” Elizabeth Almassy told Global News over the phone. “But we still don’t know what the timeline will look like for us.”
In Canada, a stay of deportation temporarily postpones a removal, meaning the Almassys still have to have their application to remain in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds reviewed.
The news comes just days after Global News first reported on the family.
Almassy and her two teenage sons came to Canada in 2011, fleeing Hungary, alleging sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her ex-husband.
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However, it wasn’t until seven years later that their case was heard by the Immigration and Refugee Board.
In his 2018 decision, the refugee judge denied their claim, coming to the conclusion Almassy was lying.
The judge said it was clear something happened that caused Almassy to leave her ex-husband, but none of her other claims were believable, he said.
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“The panel finds that the events as recounted have not occurred and that the female claimant has used the circumstances of a routine divorce as the basis for a specious claim for protection,” wrote IRB judge Reid Rossi in his June 2018 decision.
He added that he did not think she was acting the way an abused woman should.
“You can’t make assumptions about how people are going to react in a traumatic situation,” lawyer Lorne Waldman said.
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Another immigration lawyer, Deepa Matto, agreed.
“I see this time and time again is there’s a lot of trivializing women’s experiences,” she said.
Almassy said she didn’t care who believed her story — “I believed in my boys. I know what happened to me,” she told Global News.
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Now, the family says they are focusing on their case, adding they will likely learn more about their status on Monday.