Activist faces the boot
Chris Doucette and Tom Godfrey
Toronto Sun March 13th 2005
A WELL-KNOWN community activist lost a last-ditch bid to stay in Canada
and is slated for deportation tomorrow to her native Costa Rica, her consultant
says. Wendy Maxwell Edwards, 33, had her hopes dashed by a Federal Court of
Canada judge in an emergency hearing on Friday. The court ruled she had to
return home while an appeal by her to stay here on humanitarian and compassionate
grounds is reviewed.
"She is very upset and scared to return home," Edwards' immigration consultant
MacDonald Scott said yesterday. "She is terrified and doesn't know what to
do."
Supporters of Maxwell Edwards held a rally yesterday outside the North York
office of Immigration Minister Joe Volpe.
Scott said only Volpe can halt the deportation.
"The minister can do the right thing," he said. "He can intercede and stop
the removal."
Maxwell Edwards -- known by Toronto activists and her friends as Nzinga
-- fled her homeland in 1997. She said she feared for her life after being
coerced by Costa Rican police into testifying against a dangerous gang involved
in drug smuggling. She claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the cops.
"This is an outrage," said Stefanie Gude of Wendy Maxwell Support Committee.
"This has been an extreme intense experience for her."
Maxwell Edwards left her two young children behind and settled in Toronto,
where she worked as a stripper. After she quit, she became active in helping
other women leave the sex trade.
Those who know her say she has done extensive work with organizations that
support women who have been abused and with HIV/AIDS prevention.
Edwards, also a CKLN 88.1 volunteer, was apparently selling cookies at an
annual international women's day fair outside Ryerson University on March
5 when she was arrested by Toronto police and turned over to Canada Border
Sevices officers.
She is being detained at the Vanier centre for Women in Milton, and her
supporters say she is on a hunger strike to protest her deportation.
To show their support, dozens of supporters began a hunger strike last Thursday
morning in Ryerson's Jorgenson Hall, demanding she be released and allowed
to stay in Canada.
"All she is asking for is enough time for her application to be processed,"
said Sima Zerehi, 26, who is also a member of the Wendy Maxwell Support Committee.