Refugee claimant who walked across Manitoba border granted refugee status
WINNIPEG — Five months after nearly freezing to death on a treacherous walk across the Canada-U.S. border, and still learning to get along without the 10 fingers and thumbs he lost to frostbite, Seidu Mohammed is happy.
He gets to stay in Canada.
The Immigration and Refugee Board has granted Mohammed refugee status on the basis that the 24-year-old bisexual professional soccer player from Ghana would face persecution if returned to his home country.
“I feel so happy. I feel now that this country is my home now,” he said Thursday, sitting at the kitchen table in his home. With a bit of effort, he opened a binder and produced the written decision from the Immigration and Refugee Board.