Toronto: A Filipino woman who helped shelter former NSA contractor Edward Snowden when he fled to Hong Kong has been granted refugee status in Canada.

Vanessa Rodel and her daughter Keana arrived in Toronto on Monday evening.

"I feel so great and I feel like I'm free," she said.

Lawyer Robert Tibbo represented Rodel as she sought asylum in Hong Kong in 2013 due to an alleged kidnap and rape by militants in her homeland. The attorney asked her to help Snowden hide out there after he leaked documents revealing extensive US government surveillance.