SA white gets refugee status

2009-08-31 14:55

Ottawa - A white South African man has been granted refugee status in Canada, after an immigration board panel ruled he would be persecuted if he returned home to South Africa, the Ottawa Sun reports.

This is the first time a white South African has been granted refugee status in Canada claiming persecution from black South Africans, the newspaper said.

Brandon Huntley, 31, presented "clear and convincing proof of the state's inability or unwillingness to protect him", the Canadian immigration and refugee board panel ruled last Thursday.
 
"I find that the claimant would stand out like a 'sore thumb' due to his colour in any part of the country,” tribunal panel chair William Davis said.

Attacked seven times

Huntley's "subjective fear of persecution remained constant and consistent" up to the time he made his refugee claim, Davis noted.

The Canadian newspaper reported that Huntley - who grew up in Mowbray, Cape Town - claimed he had been attacked seven times by black South Africans. He said he was called a "white dog" and a "settler".
 
"There's a hatred of what we did to them and it's all about the colour of your skin," Huntley reportedly said.

He first went to Canada on a six-month work permit in 2004, and returned in 2005. He stayed on illegally and made a refugee claim in April 2008, the Ottawa Sun reported.

- Ottawa Sun

- News24