November 10, 2017
An Iranian refugee detained by Australia on Manus Island has begun a new life in Canada, through a group of private citizens who sponsored his freedom.
Amir Taghinia flew to Coquitlam, British Columbia, last week, after nearly four years on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
“To be honest, I cannot believe I am in Canada, I am so thankful,” Taghinia told The Guardian. “But I cannot forget about my friends—they are starving, they have no water to drink. It is very, very likely we will have more deaths in the next coming days.”
Taghinia said he was overwhelmingly grateful to the Canadians who had worked together to find him a path to freedom. He is living at the house of Wayne and Linda Taylor after their daughter, Chelsea, met him in 2015 while she was administering immunizations to Manus Island detainees.
“I really respect these people; I now consider them as part of my family. I am seeing the generosity Canadians have toward human beings. But look what is happening to Australia; Australia’s reputation is being ruined by what the Australian government is doing to people.
“Here, when people hear I am a refugee, they are so happy to help me, to assist me in any way they can. On Manus Island, the Australian guards, they hate me because I am a refugee. They call me by my boat number – EDE039. But here they call me by my name. They respect me as a human being. I am glad to call myself Canadian.”
Taghinia was formally recognized as a refugee by the UN on Manus Island—that is, authorities judged he had a “well-founded fear of persecution” in Iran and could not legally be returned there. “I was hostage there,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “If the Canadian government and my sponsors weren’t there, I may have died on that island.”
