Distance runner Kassap still in limbo after refugee application denied
Posted Wednesday, 20 July, 2005
By Lori Ewing
Canadian Press
July 20, 2005
TORONTO (CP) - Danny Kassap remains a runner without a country.
The talented Congolese distance runner, who fled to Canada during the 2001 Francophone Games to escape the horrors of his homeland, is in limbo after his application for refugee status was rejected this week. "I still don't understand why it was turned down," said Kassap's lawyer Micheal Crane, who received the decision Monday.
"Usually you can sort of figure it out; I would be very interested to see what (Canadian Immigration officials) came up with."
It's the second time the world-class runner has been denied refugee status since he arrived in Ottawa in 2001, penniless and speaking virtually no English.
Crane and Kassap's training partners with the University of Toronto track club who have lobbied tirelessly for the young runner, had high hopes for Kassap's most recent application, based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Kassap, whose first home in Toronto was Covenant House, a home for runaway and homeless youth, now has his own apartment, a job peeling potatoes in a fish-chip shop, attends classes at the adult learning centre and speaks decent English.
"You just want to go to some government office and wring somebody's neck and say, 'what is it you are missing here?"' said Ian Reid, a training partner and friend of Kassap's.
"It was a big shock. From what I know of the Canadian immigration policies, I wonder, would he not be the poster candidate? He's escaping an environment that the federal government said was not good, and he's young, smart, and willing to work hard. Is that not the type of person we want contributing to Canada?"
Crane may appeal the decision, although the appeals process can take nearly a year and the success rate is just five per cent. Otherwise, Kassap will have to re-apply for refugee status, which means starting over and another two years waiting for a decision.
Kassap, who couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday, is loaded with talent, a runner with world-class potential but no country to compete for. He has only run three marathons but already, the rail-thin five-foot-seven, 125-pound Kassap is a full three minutes faster than any Canadian at the distance.
He won the Toronto Waterfront Marathon last September in his first attempt at the distance, in a course record time of two hours 14 minutes 50 seconds. While it's difficult to compare courses and times, Kassap would have finished sixth with that time at this year's Boston Marathon.
The Canadian marathon record of 2:10.08 is one of the oldest on the books, set by Jerome Drayton back in 1975.
"Looking at his potential, he's running these kinds of times, he's consistent about it, he's run it in different conditions, and he's 22 years old, you just look at this improvement scale, and you wonder what he could do in another five years," said Reid.
Canada isn't sending people back to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where civil war has raged for the past seven years, leaving more than three million people dead and at least another two million displaced.
Kassap can't be deported right now, but the moratorium is not indefinite.
He remains without status. He cannot leave the country, which means his running future is limited. He would be Canada's best marathon hope at the world championships and Olympics, but he can't run for Canada. And Kassap, who finished third in the Nissan Foundation 5K last week in Toronto, has already turned down invitations to race in big-money events in Las Vegas, Mexico and Barbabos.
"Until all the appeals have been completed, we won't know if he can ever represent Canada," said his coach Ross Ristuccia. "He can just run in races here, which is unfortunate for him as they are not as lucrative as some of the ones in the States."
According to a BBC report, Kassap was one of 106 athletes from all over Africa that sought asylum in Canada at the Francophone Games.
It was a similar scene at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, where Nigerian-born wrestler Daniel Igali was the most prominent athlete to defect, going on to win gold for Canada at the 2000 Olympics.
Kassap fled his hometown of Lubumbashi when soldiers stormed his family's home, and took his father Jean. His father hasn't been heard from since, and Kassap has had no word on the whereabouts of the rest of his family including seven brothers and sisters since he left Congo.
Kassap calls his training group in Toronto his family, and it was his fellow runners that pooled their money to hire Crane to represent Kassap after his first refugee application was rejected.
Sam Babe, one of Kassap's training partners, said Kassap was looking forward to a future in Toronto, and sought advice in recent weeks on buying a house here.
"He wants to get on with things, and not just for running, not just to be able to travel around, and get more competition in the States," said Babe, a Toronto lawyer. "He just wants to be able to finally settle here after almost five years."
© The Canadian Press 2005
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