On July 22 Mr. Andrew Jenkins, intelligence officer with the Canada Border Services Agency, physically attended at the ATS office in Canada. My workers identified the photo of me. Even though a federal investigator had already confirmed who I was, Minister Lawrence Cannon told the country on July 24 that there was no proof; he made the country believe I was an imposter.
Even with the photo identification, they wanted more. My lawyer had to go to court to force them to check my DNA. Even then they fought me. They had promised to take my DNA sample by July 25. They did not do it until July 27. Then they waited two days to send the DNA to the lab in Canada. They did not send the package with the DNA by a quick route. It did not arrive in Canada until August 4. Finally, on August 10, my son's DNA proved that I was me, Suaad.
I told my son I was just going away for a short time. I was gone for three and a half months. Now he is afraid when I leave him.
What would have happened if my son had come with me to Kenya? How could I have proved who I was? What would have happened if I did not have a child?
When they called those people and the Kenyan immigration people said I did not look like my passport photo, I did not give up. I told them I was a Canadian. So I called my government. I thought my government would back me up. But I was alone when my government let me down.
I ended up in jail in Kenya because of the Canadian officials. They took away my rights. They took away my identity and my freedom. And they told the Kenyans that I was a criminal. They thought I was an imposter. I was separated from my son because of the Canadian government. From the beginning, they presumed I was guilty.
I'm very happy to be back in Canada. I'm back with my son. I've always believed that being a Canadian meant I had rights and freedom, and I still believe that.
I want to thank so many people who supported me and got my story out: my family, my friends, all the journalists, and my lawyer, Raoul Boulakia. They are the people who brought me back to Canada. They stood up for me when the Canadian officials turned their backs on me. Not everyone would have been lucky enough to have so much help. How many people are out there standing like I was? I would never have believed that I would go to jail for saying I'm a Canadian citizen.
You are the ones who are responsible for protecting Canadian citizens and making sure that we have our rights and freedom. You must stand up for us wherever we are.