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Ottawa offers reprieve for 421 Haitian nationals stuck in limbo in Canada

Ottawa offers reprieve for 421 Haitian nationals stuck in limbo in Canada

With the Canadian government's temporary halt to deportations to Haiti Friday, some Haitian nationals under a removal order say it gives them a glimmer of hope.

Due to civil unrest in the country, the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) offered a temporary reprieve for 421 Haitian nationals awaiting deportation, but it did not indicate how long the moratorium might last.

One man living in Montreal who had his Feb. 20 deportation stayed told CBC that he has been working to send money back to his family still living in Haiti.

"I can't return to Haiti, that's one of the reasons I came to Canada," he said, speaking to CBC under the condition of anonymity.

The man crossed illegally into Canada from the United States in the summer of 2017.

He says returning to Haiti would cause him a lot of problems, and he's worried for his family's safety.

He hopes to stay in Canada and eventually bring his family here.

Frantz André, who is with the Action Committee for People without Status in Montreal, said the temporary moratorium on deportation is good, but he would like the government to offer a more long-term solution.

"This is not right. They're playing with people's lives," André said. "[People] don't know when they'll be going."

In 2018, the federal government rejected 1,555 refugee claims from Haitians and accepted 557.

There are another 6,811 claims still working their way through the system.