Haitian basketball players of the team Haiti Bongu, true stars in Haiti, that had to participate in Canada to the tournament of Burnaby, which puts in competition, 16 teams from around the world, saw their dream collapse, when, just days before the start of the tournament and after 5 weeks of expectations, Citizenship and Immigration Canada refused to grant them a visa to participate in this competitio

The players were already living in anguish and feared this decision since June after one of the Canadian Embassy Manager in Port-au-Prince, sent them an email, in which he argued that there was little chance that their visa applications are approved because "the extreme conditions of poverty in the country."

Sebastian Petion, the team coach, very disappointed by the news, believes this decision and unfair discrimnatoire and that Canada is wrong in thinking that the Haitian players, refused to return to Haiti after the tournament "They said that we have no home, no money, we had no reason to return to Haiti after the tournament."

Charlesbenson Turenne, the captain of the team, also believes that Canada's decision is discriminatory. "They were given the opportunity to all the other countries to participate, but not for us." According to him, Canada discriminates applicants based on their financial resources.

For Dave Wahl, the organizer of the tournament, Canada sending a negative message to the world, saying it's not just the team of Haiti who was denied visa, half the members of Zimbabwe's team did not have the right to enter the Canadian territory.

Faced with this situation, Citizenship and Immigration Canada denies and says that "the same criteria apply to all those who want to enter Canada, regardless of their country of origin" without further comment...

Moreover, remember that more than 200 participants, speakers and guests at the World Social Forum to be held from August 9 to 14 in Montreal, were also denied their visa application to attend this event. These people came from Latin America, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Nigeria, Iran, Haiti and Nepal...

PI/ HaitiLibre