{"id":119599,"date":"2025-08-05T01:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T01:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/119599\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T01:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T01:18:11","slug":"toronto-family-facing-deporaton-pleads-for-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/119599\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto family facing deporaton pleads for help"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Toronto faith leader and her two young daughters are pleading for help as they face deportation.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s West Hill Public School.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t stop the trio from being deported on Aug. 7.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have tried to reach for help from my MP. I\u2019m getting opposition. I\u2019m getting responses that cannot help me right now and I need help,\u201d a tearful Wanyeki told CTV News Toronto on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rev. Rosalind Wanyeki Rev. Rosalind Wanyeki, who is facing deportation to Kenya with her two young daughters, speaks during an emergency service on Aug. 3. <\/p>\n

Wanyeki, who is the founder and senior pastor of North York\u2019s Prayer Reign International Church in Canada, says she fears she and her girls will be harmed if they\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve served the community for those five years (here in Canada) and I pray to be safe,\u201d Wanyeki told CTV News Toronto.<\/p>\n

Eldest daughter Joylene said the thought of being forced to leave their home makes her \u201csad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to go back because I like staying in Canada,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rev. Rosalind Wenyaki during emergency service Aug. 3 Rev. Rosalind Wanyeki, who along with her two young daughters is facing deportation to Kenya on Aug. 7, speaks during an emergency service on Aug. 3. <\/p>\n

On Sunday, members of Toronto\u2019s Kenya and East African faith communities held an emergency service and news conference at North York\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Eunice Mbugua, a community mobilizer, said Rev. Hadassah is someone who provides culturally appropriate supports for people facing settlement challenges. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Eunice Mbugua, Rev. Rosalind Wenyeki Community mobilizer Eunice Mbugua, right, hugs Rev. Rosalind Wenyeki. The Toronto pastor and her two young daughters are facing deportation to Kenya on Aug. 7. <\/p>\n

Local faith leaders are also calling on the Canadian government to step in and cancel or at least delay the family\u2019s deportation order.<\/p>\n

\u201dWe are asking the government, across the board. They are already here. They are taxpayers. They are people who are contributing to the society,\u201d Rev. John Munywoki said.<\/p>\n

Mbugua said people who are returned home can face danger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Mbugua said.<\/p>\n

CTV News Toronto has reached out to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for comment, but we have yet to hear back.<\/p>\n

With files from CTV News Toronto\u2019s Rahim Ladhani<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Toronto faith leader and her two young daughters are pleading for help as they face deportation. Rev.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":119600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4717,2147,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-119599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114973527924497757","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}