A white man from South Africa has been given refugee status in Canada after claiming persecution, his lawyer said, angering many in his home country, where race remains a highly sensitive issue.
A Canadian immigration board panel issued its ruling late last week in the case involving Brandon Carl Huntley, lawyer Russell Kaplan said.
Kaplan said on Tuesday this was likely the first time a white South African had been granted refugee status in Canada, claiming persecution from black South Africans.
The Immigration and Refugee Board refused to comment on the case or to release the decision. Board spokesman Stephane Malepart said he was barred from commenting on any individual case by privacy provisions.
Malepart said the board is an independent tribunal that operates at arm’s length from the Canadian government.
Huntley argued that whites are targeted by black criminals in South Africa and that the government does nothing to protect them.
He said he had been attacked seven times during attempted robberies and muggings.
Kaplan, a South African native who moved to Canada 20 years, said tribunal panel chair William Davis ruled that Huntley would stand out like a “sore thumb” because of his color in any part of South Africa and that Kaplan’s fears of persecution were justified based on the evidence he submitted.
In his its written decision, Davis said “I find that the claimant was a victim because of his race (white South African) rather than a victim of criminality.”
It also said that Huntley “has presented clear and convincing proof of the state’s inability or unwillingness to protect him.”
The news of the Canadian panel’s ruling made headlines and was a topic for call-in radio programs in South Africa on Tuesday.
Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesman for South Africa’s immigration ministry, said Huntley’s “claims were aimed at tarnishing the good name of black and white South Africans ... and were racially motivated.”
He also said that “it would have been courteous for the Canadian government to allow the South African government to respond to these claims.”
The governing African National Congress (ANC) said the government was working hard to curb crime.
ANC spokesman Brian Sokutu said: “We find the claim by Huntley to have been attacked seven times by Africans due his skin color without any police intervention sensational and alarming.”
“Canada’s reasoning for granting Huntley a refugee status can only serve to perpetuate racism,” he said.
In an editorial on Tuesday, the Johannesburg daily the Times said: “News that Canada has granted a white South African refugee status because his life is in danger at the hands of his black countrymen is shocking and saddening. It says more about Canadian perceptions than South African reality.”
But AfriForum, a white lobby, has asked Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the South African immigration minister, to look into the cause of white emigration and to take seriously the claim by Huntley’s lawyer that he “presented a clear and convincing proof of the state’s inability or unwillingness to protect him.”
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS