The scars on Eva Rose’s left wrist and forearm narrate part of her arduous journey. As a transsexual, a Syrian refugee who was abandoned by her family has tried to commit suicide. At times, this seemed like the only way for her to find peace. As Rose tries to talk about her suicide attempt, tears roll down her face. The feeling of memory is too heavy to share. So much of its history is full of suffering, abuse and abandonment. When ISIS captured the village of Rose in eastern Syria, near the border with Iraq in 2014, she says a terrorist forced her to have sex. Only then was she told she would be safe. “I was forced to do things against my will; or my life was in danger,” he told CTV National News. When asked what ISIS usually does to members of the LGBTQ2S + community, Rose puts her finger to her throat. “They cut off your head.” The 23-year-old arrived in Canada as a refugee on June 6, after spending the last few years living as a trans refugee in Turkey. Rose was ecstatic when the UN High Commissioner for Refugees told her she would move to Canada. “When I found out I was coming to Canada I knew that as an LGBTQ person I could live freely here.” While grateful to the government and Canadians across the country, Rose says her vision for a free, open life has so far been shattered. When she arrived, she was sent to live in a hotel in the Toronto area with other refugees who she says are verbally abusing her daily because of her sexual orientation. During her first meal, two other refugees told her: “If we were back home in Iraq, people like Saddam Hussein would end up beheading all of you (people). “Unfortunately here in Canada they protect people like you,” he recalled. Rose says deep-rooted cultural and religious prejudice against members of the LGBTQ2S + community means she will find little comfort or sense of community from other refugees, even from her own country. Refugee lawyer Mona Elshayal watches Rose withdrawn, sitting in her hotel room all day. “I have seen the way people treat her, show her and laugh at her as if she were a child being bullied on a playground by adults. “Imagine how you feel, the fear of just leaving your hotel room,” says Elshayal. The federal government has repeatedly made promises to vulnerable refugees coming to Canada from all over the world. In August, as Canada closed its embassy in Kabul, Prime Minister Justin Trinto reiterated his government’s commitment, this time to the people of Afghanistan, saying the commitment to “women and girls, the LGBT community” remains unresolved. However, Rose does not believe the government kept its promise to people like her as soon as they finally arrived, saying that staying in a refugee hotel makes her “feel like a criminal, but what is my crime?” “I’m just LGBTQ, I’ve done nothing wrong.” The refugee hotel where Rose currently resides is run by an organization called Polycultural, which has been contracted by the federal government and paid taxpayers dollars to help care for and resettle refugees. Elshayal says when the issue of Rose’s security at the hotel came to the attention of Multicultural staff, “they just laughed and said you want us to have security guards surround her wherever she goes, and I think they took it more as a joke than to take things seriously”. CTV National News spoke with Polycultural chief executive by telephone Monday. He said the organization was now trying to move Rose to another hotel, which does not accommodate other refugees. Moving would be a temporary solution as they try to find her a more permanent place to live. In a statement to CTV National News from the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the department said in part: “The safety and security of refugees temporarily staying in hotels is paramount. As mentioned earlier, the IRCC is in constant contact with service providers to ensure that they meet the needs of refugees, from the exchange of information to the addition of resources. This includes daily updates to the IRCC on hotel activities. “ The IRCC says it is currently monitoring Polycultural for this particular situation. For Rose, she says she just wants to live her life freely and embrace her new country and what it has to offer. The following is a list of resources and telephone lines dedicated to supporting people in crisis: Hope for Wellness Helpline (English, French, Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut): 1-855-242-3310 Embrace Life Council Contact Line: 1-800-265-3333 Trans Lifeline: 1-877-330-6366 Helpline for children: 1-800-668-6868
