Classis In The News

CANADIAN CONGREGATION KEEPS FIGHTING YOUTH WORKER’S DEPORTATION ORDER

By Sophie Vandenberg

When Ben Osei’s scheduled deportation time arrived, the youth worker at Toronto’s Friendship Community Christian Reformed Church found himself at the centre of a national media storm (see Banner, Sept. 2003).  Even the prime minister of Canada couldn’t fail to take note of the Ghanaian native’s situation, says Rev. Fred Witteveen, pastor of Friendship Community.

When Osei’s application to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was rejected, the congregation, along with other churches, decided to advocate for a change in Immigration Canada’s decision, unsure at first where to begin.

Church members sent e-mails to supporters within the denomination, asking that their message be forwarded to others.  “We wrote letters within and outside churches,”  Witteveen said.  They approached the Christian and secular media.  Several of Canada’s television networks and some of its largest newspapers responded.

“100 Huntley Street,” a Christian television program, invited viewers to contact Canada’s minister of immigration.  “Phone calls flooded the immigration office.  They had to shut down the phones.  They didn’t know what hit them,” Witteveen said. 

Toronto Mayor David Miller, who visited Osei’s youth program, spoke out commending Osei’s work.  “it was a river of communication, like God’s people around Jericho, their voice getting louder and louder,” said Witteveen.

Though Osei could have pursued further legal action, her reported for deportation Jan. 23 and was sent back to Ghana Jan. 28.

Witteveen said Osei helped the congregation’s neighbourhood, which is considered by many to be one of the neediest in Toronto, to view itself with new eyes.  “With the eyes of Christ you begin to realize how lovely you are,” he said.

From The Banner, March 2004.  Used by permission.