‘I don’t want to go back’: Toronto pastor and her 2 daughters face deportation to Kenya

Toronto-based Rev. Rosalind Wanyeki with her daughters Pearl and Joylene. (Supplied)

A Toronto faith leader and her two young daughters are pleading for help as they face deportation.

Rev. Rosalind Wanyeki, who is known to many in the community as Rev. Hadassah, came to Canada in 2020 as a refugee with her now six-year-old daughter Pearl and nine-year-old daughter, Joylene.

Over the last five and a half years the family has created a life in Toronto. Wanyeki leads a ministry while her children attend Scarborough’s West Hill Public School.

However, both their refugee claim as well as application for permanent residency under humanitarian and compassionate grounds have been denied. And while an appeal is underway, it won’t stop the trio from being deported on Aug. 7.

The family was originally scheduled to be removed from Canada earlier this year, however, that order was deferred to allow the kids to finish the school year.

“I have tried to reach for help from my MP. I’m getting opposition. I’m getting responses that cannot help me right now and I need help,” a tearful Wanyeki told CTV News Toronto on Sunday.

Wanyeki, who is the founder and senior pastor of North York’s Prayer Reign International Church in Canada, says she fears she and her girls will be harmed if they’re sent back to Kenya. She told CTV News Toronto that they were forced to flee their homeland to escape persecution from a powerful church leader in Nairobi.

“I’ve served the community for those five years (here in Canada) and I pray to be safe,” Wanyeki told CTV News Toronto.

Eldest daughter Joylene said the thought of being forced to leave their home makes her “sad.”

“I don’t want to go back because I like staying in Canada,” she said.

On Sunday, members of Toronto’s Kenya and East African faith communities held an emergency service and news conference at North York’s Royal Chapel during which they prayed for a miracle for the pastor and her two children and called on the federal government to intervene in this case.

Those in the community say Wanyeki is a contributing member of society, who provides emotional support for families, connects newcomers with resources and is part of a network on Kenyan-Canadian pastors as well as several grassroots and community organizations.

Eunice Mbugua, a community mobilizer, said Rev. Hadassah is someone who provides culturally appropriate supports for people facing settlement challenges.

“So what is being taken away from the Kenyan and the broader African community at large is actually a support system that actually is very needed,” she said.

Local faith leaders are also calling on the Canadian government to step in and cancel or at least delay the family’s deportation order.

”We are asking the government, across the board. They are already here. They are taxpayers. They are people who are contributing to the society,” Rev. John Munywoki said.

Mbugua said people who are returned home can face danger.

“The situations where you hear someone has been deported - even they just disappear or the kid is just abducted. So for her, being here is a safety net,” Mbugua said.

CTV News Toronto has reached out to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for comment, but we have yet to hear back.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Rahim Ladhani