After getting caught in a legal stalemate, they were eventually deported in September, fearing for their lives

After stops in Vancouver, Mongolia, Russia and the Philippines, the long and worrisome journey back to Calgary for a mother and her teenage daughter is finally over.

As 660 News reported in the fall, Ariunaa Demberel and her daughter Enkhjin were deported out of Canada to their homeland of Mongolia, where they originally fled from what they called a dangerous and abusive ex-husband in 2014.

After being caught in a legal stalemate, they are now happily back in Calgary and on two-year visas with goals of eventually becoming citizens.

Donn Lovett, a partner with a communications and consulting firm, is one of the men who helped facilitate their return.

“They are ecstatic to be back in Canada,” he said speaking on their behalf, as they’re not ready to speak with media yet.

When they first arrived in Canada seeking asylum, Demberel was originally advised to apply for refugee status, which turned out to be a mistake because that required certain documents she didn’t have due to fleeing.

She later learned of the Humanitarian and Compassion grounds to stay in Canada in April, but because of her pending refugee status and her application being returned for an unknown reason, she and her daughter were eventually ordered out and deported on September 26th.

“I still can’t believe it,” Demberel told reporters the morning she was deported at the Calgary airport. “It was like a fairytale for us, living with freedom, so I’m thankful for that. “

“I really want to finish my high school with my friends, because all my friends are here and I don’t have any friends back home,” Enkhjin said at the airport. “Everything is here.”

Lovett and an associate named Igor Tesker worked day and night for a solution and after touching down in Mongolia from Calgary and Vancouver, they arranged for them to travel to Russia to stay with Tesker’s mother for a month and avoid being potentially caught by her ex-husband.

They then travelled to the Philippines while Lovett worked with an official in the federal government and early in November they received their two-year visas, a work one for Ariunaa and a student one for Enkhjin.

They arrived back home last month after 46 days out of Canada and over 38,000 kilometres of travel.

“They’ve been doing a happy dance since that phone call,” Lovett said.

Lovett said the original application to stay on Humanitarian and Compassion grounds turned out to be a saving grace because since it was in the system, the federal government was able to assess it and grant the visas since Demberel was working three jobs at the time.

Not only is she back at work, she’s returned to volunteering at the food bank where she was a client upon arriving in 2014.

Enkhjin is back at Western Canada High School where she’s an honours student.

“She’s working three jobs, volunteering at the food bank and raising a marvelous daughter,” Lovett said. “These are not people that we want to be kicking out of our country. “

Their hope is after the Humanitarian and Compassion process is over, they can eventually become permanent citizens.