Black Lives Matter protest woman’s deportation at Yonge and Bloor

Beverley Braham is facing deportation to Jamaica and her supporters, including the Black Lives Matter Movement, held a demonstration on Tuesday to protest her detention and her leaving.

The demonstration began at Yonge and Bloor streets around 8 a.m. The intersection was blocked for about 20 minutes.

Braham, 38, is married to a Canadian citizen. She and her four-month-old son, who was born in Canada, could be sent to Jamaica on Thursday. She came to Canada in 2012 on a six-month visa, but has overstayed her visa.

“Justin [my four-month-old son] was in [immigration] detention with us,” Braham told CityNews on Tuesday.

Her son was born in May. On Sept. 6, she took her son and husband with her when she met with an official from Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

That’s when, Braham says, a CBSA official made her husband leave the room, called Children’s Aid Society (CAS), and took away her baby food.

“I was unable to feed my child,” Braham says.

Then, they were kept in detention for nearly three full days, until Sept. 8. She will be returning to CBSA on Wednesday, but has no idea what will happen during that appointment.

“She should be .. building her family here and and enjoying her new child,” Leroi Newbold, co-founder of BLM Toronto said in a statement.

“Instead, she has been in the fight for her life, and that her baby, and has faced inhumane detention with her tiny infant. This is not just. We are here to say enough is enough. Let Beverly stay.”

Braham is involved in the sponsorship process, and advocates are asking that she be allowed to stay until her sponsorship is complete.


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