Family of Prince Debase Betoukoumessou reacts to their father/husband deportation

Sixteen years since he escaped jail and possible death at the hands of the Congolese government, a long-time Toronto business owner and father of six will be deported Monday to the Central African country known for its human rights abuses.

Prince Debase Betoukoumessou, 52, has lived in Canada since fleeing the Democratic Republic of Congo with his wife and four young daughters in 1997. The couple made a home in Toronto, had two sons here, and run a small salon and beauty supply store downtown.

Canada has an official moratorium on deportations to the Congo because of concern for the safety of people sent back. However, that moratorium does not cover those whom the Canadian government believes have committed a crime, according to a CBSA official.

“While there is a temporary suspension of removals to Congo, this does not apply to individuals with criminal records, those deemed to be serious security risks, war criminals or individuals who committed crimes against humanity,” CBSA spokesperson Patrizia Giolti told the Star in an email Sunday evening.

As one of his conditions for staying in Canada, Prince was to report monthly to Canadian Border Security Agency officials in Mississauga, a standing appointment he’d kept for years.

But at his last such meeting in April, Betoukoumessou was met by Canadian immigration officers and three Congolese officials who had come to Canada to interview Congolese nationals facing deportation.

According to his wife Therese, Betoukoumessou was asked by officials from both countries whether he would be willing to return to the Congo.

“No, if I go home I am afraid that they may kill me,” was his response, she said.

That was enough to detain Betoukoumessou as a flight risk, someone unlikely to show up for deportation from Canada, according to the non-profit immigrant rights group No One Is Illegal Toronto.

For three months Betoukoumessou was held with more than 140 other foreign migrants at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay.

On July 8, he was told he would be moved to the Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton in preparation for his deportation.

On Monday afternoon, officials will escort Betoukoumessou onto a flight bound for the Congo, a country the federal government warns travellers against visiting due to ongoing conflict, “endemic criminality,” and the failure of the Congolese government to impose order, according to the Government of Canada’s travel advisory website.

The CBSA spokesperson declined to comment directly on Betoukoumessou’s case, citing privacy concerns.

“The agent told me to bring his clothes to the jail at 2 p.m. on Monday and then that’s it,” Therese told the Star in the living room of the family’s Dundas St. E. home. “It’s not right. He doesn’t have a criminal record in Canada.”

“I will have to go on welfare,” she added.

Neither officials from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, nor Betoukoumessou’s lawyer, Michael Crane, could be reached for comment over the weekend.

Syed Hussan of No One is Illegal said the danger Betoukoumessou faces upon his return to the Congo is “extremely real.”

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“Returning to DR Congo, however briefly, is too grave a risk for any member of the Betoukoumessou family,” the group said in a statement provided to the Star.

Before fleeing his home country, Betoukoumessou owned two minivans and ran a shuttle service, according to the family. He was also a member of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDSP), then a major opposition party to the government.

In 1991, when Betoukoumessou’s storefront was destroyed by soldiers, he took a job as a civilian driver for police officers going to and from work.

“On February 22, 1993, my husband was asked to take part in an operation by driving the officers on a mission to abduct and arrest three people who were members of the UDSP,” Therese said.

“They had guns, he had no choice,” she added. “He was scared for his life.”

Outraged by the police kidnapping, her husband quit his job the next day and was subsequently arrested and imprisoned for four years, according to Therese.

“My husband then escaped from prison and we managed to escape to Canada with our four kids.”

While the refugee claims of Therese and their four daughters — now in their 20s — were accepted by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Betoukoumessou’s claim was denied as the IRB considered him then, as now, a criminal, Therese said.

None of the family has ever returned to Africa.

“After being here so long, him not being in trouble, I just don’t think it’s right,” Lafleur, one of Betoukoumessou’s 23-year-old twin daughters told the Star on the eve of her father’s deportation. “His whole life is here.”

The youngest child, Jacob, 11, was born in Toronto, along with his 16-year-old brother. They both go to school near the family home and have never been to the country their father will be sent to.

When Jacob sees his dad for likely the last time in a long time Monday, he will be at a loss for words, he said.

“I’m going to just tell him I’m sorry for what I’ve ever done,” he said, “and that I wish he was here.”

The embassy of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Ottawa did not respond to the Star’s requests for comments.