Godwin’s lawyer Subodh Bharati doesn’t know where the recording came from and hasn’t been allowed to hear it. They conducted a linguistics analysis with Godwin using a Swedish company called Sprakab, which concluded that he doesn’t sound Liberian, using a 24-minute recording taken in 2017. Godwin is lying - Liberia doesn’t repatriate its own citizens, especially the ones that have criminal records so Canada brings him back,” Bharati told VICE News.īut Canada now seems to be taking their word. In one email, a CBSA officer says he was told by a UN police officer that because there was an election coming up, Liberian officials were reluctant to let people in because they didn’t want deportees to change the outcome of the election. Emails reference officials in Monrovia “bouncing back our cases for no apparent reason,” and Canadian officials often being told that the identity of the person they’re sending or the documentation is fraudulent. Emails obtained through access to information reveal immigration officials repeatedly mention how difficult it is to deport someone to Liberia and the lack of cooperation from Liberian officials even when deportees have documents that have been issued by the Liberian government. “But in both cases, clients are in detention and if they don’t do what’s asked of them to facilitate removal, non-cooperation is used against them, so they can’t really say no.”īharati has also found that Godwin’s story of being denied entry at the border isn’t unique for Liberian nationals. “In both cases, I think what they were looking for is evidence of the country to which they wanted to deport them,” said Will. He described the process as “extorted consent.” In one case, the agency was trying to establish Gambian nationality, and in the other, Ghanaian. Jared Will, another Toronto-based immigration lawyer, has also had two clients who had their DNA analyzed on the website. “DNA testing is a measure that is used when other avenues have been exhausted,” said CBSA spokesperson Jayden Robertson. But he confirmed that CBSA does use DNA testing “as part of a suite of investigative techniques in an effort to confirm an individual’s identity.” "DNA testing is a measure that is used when other avenues have been exhausted."Ī spokesperson for the CBSA would not comment on the specifics of Godwin’s case. Based on what they’ve been told by the Liberian government, a linguistics report conducted by a Swedish company that’s been discredited in other countries, as well as DNA testing, the Canadian government is now also speculating that Godwin is not Liberian, but a Nigerian national.Īt his latest immigration hearing, Godwin was told by the member that while the first DNA testing was “only somewhat helpful, they have now moved on to another DNA organization which they are hoping, because it has an expanded database and several sites, that they will be able to further identify through that.” "Individuals using these sites to look at their family tree should be aware help facilitate the deportation of migrants."īut when he arrived in Liberia in 2003, accompanied by Canadian immigration officials and with a travel certificate in hand from the Liberian embassy in Ghana, he was denied entry into the country by Liberian officials, who claimed that only the embassy in Washington could issue a legitimate document, and that what he had was fake.īut in 2017, Godwin’s case took a strange turn. Because of the seriousness of his criminal convictions, Godwin’s permanent residence status was taken away and the government ordered him deported back to Liberia. “Individuals using these sites to look at their family tree should be aware that their confidential information is being made available to the government and that border agents may contact them to help facilitate the deportation of migrants,” he said.īoth companies deny working with law enforcement.įranklin Godwin, one of Bharati’s clients, who was accepted as a refugee from Liberia and granted permanent resident status in 1996, was charged two years later with importing and conspiring to import heroin and sentenced to seven years in jail. Sign up for the VICE News Canada Newsletter to get the best of our content delivered to your inbox daily. Bharati, who is representing his client through CLASP, the legal aid clinic at Osgoode Hall Law School, said he is aware of at least two individuals who used, one in the UK, who have been contacted by the CBSA seeking to deport someone from Canada.