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Jason Kenney makes last-minute intervention in family’s deportation to Guinea

Guinea — a small country in Western Africa with a population of 10 million — also lays claim to the fifth-highest rate of female genital mutilation. According to the World Health Organization, around 40 per cent of the country's female population is subjected to this practice.

The process is defined by both the WHO and the UN as "the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."

It's also the only country where the younger population appears to be subjected to the mutilation at a higher rate than its older women, meaning the practice actually shows sign of increasing.

And it's what Kankou Keita Mansaré cites as the reason she sought asylum in Laval, Que. with her family.

As Postmedia News reports, Mansaré brought her daughters to Canada in 2007 fearing they would be subjected to forced marriages and the aforementioned genital mutilation.

But when the family's application for refugee status was denied, notes the CBC, they later applied to remain in the country on humanitarian grounds.

Instead they were ordered to go back to Guinea.

At the time, Mansaré put the blame on the family's first lawyer, saying he failed to file their paperwork to Immigration Canada.

They asked for a temporary stay to allow them time to resubmit their documents, but were ordered to leave three times.

In the meantime, the CBC reports that Mansaré has been working at a factory to support the family and her children, all francophones, were either working or enrolled in school.

On Saturday, the family staged a protest to plead their cause to remain in Quebec. Mansaré and two of her daughters were expected to report to Montreal's Trudeau airport Sunday to be issued one-way tickets home. Her remaining three children would follow suit on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a number of people sympathetic to the family's cause have also been vocal in their support.

One of those people is Anne-Marie Bellemare, a social worker who has been helping the family navigate the immigration waters.

And Bellemare was on hand Sunday morning when Immigration Minister Jason Kenney used his discretionary powers to postpone the family's return to Guinea.

Though his office did not say why Kenney personally stepped in to make the exception, a spokesperson confirmed the decision.

The news, said Bellemare, flooded the family with enormous relief.

"They're so happy. The mother, she's Muslim, she thanks God, she says we have to thank God for what they did," Bellemare told the CBC.

"And of course she's pleased with what Canada and Quebec did and what's happening, and for all the support. She's had tremendous support from a lot of people, and she's very thankful."

Mansaré's 17-year-old daughter, Zenab, was more pointed in her praise.

"I'm really happy and I don't know how to thank him (the minister) and the people of Canada," she told LCN Television on Sunday.

Their stay of immigration will give the family a chance for immigration officials to review their case. Postmedia notes there is no timeline set for the review.