AW@L Radio - Made Stateless by Canada - The Ongoing Saga of Deepan Budlakoti

An Interview with Deepan Budlakoti, an Ottawa-born man whose citizenship was unilaterally revoked by the Harper government, a move that was recently upheld by a federal judge

Here is an interview from the September 12th 2014 edition of the Daily GRRR! with Deepan Budlakoti, an Ottawa-born man whose citizenship was unilaterally revoked by the Harper government, a move that was recently upheld by a federal judge. Deepan will be appealing the decision that renders him stateless.

We speak about his situation, the Harper government's attack on people of colour, and more.

the tune at the end of the track is from Alas and Savage Fam - a track entitled Go Away.

for more info on Deepan, and to support his case please visit http://justicefordeepan.org and follow on twitter @justice4deepan

Headline from DailyGRRR! Sept 11:

On September 10th, a federal court judge released a ruling that upholds the revocation of the citizenship of Deepan Budlakoti, an Ottawa born man, who was unilaterally stripped of his citizenship by the Harper government in a disturbing case of “double punishment”

While justice Phelan claims the process of “denationalisation” which renders Deepan stateless, is consistent with the laws of canada and does not infringe on his charter rights, Budlokati says he will appeal.

In a statement from the Justice for Deepan support committee Deepan is quoted: “I refuse to be exiled from my homeland, to be made an outcast in my own society. This case is important for everyone in Canada, it sets a precedent that we should all be worried about.”

Stacy Douglas, Assistant Professor of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University and member of the support committee Said that “it is entirely reasonable that, after living in this country for 21 years with no other nationality, Deepan would expect that he is a Canadian citizen”.

Yavar Hameed, One of Deepan’s lawyers noted “It is highly disappointing that the Federal Court is prepared to allow Deepan to languish as a stateless person indefinitely”. Canada is a signatory of the 1961 UN convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

This interview was first played on September 12th, 2014 edition of The Daily GRRR! The interview was undertaken by host @dankellar. The #DailyGRRR! is on every day weekday from 9-10 a.m. on 100.3 CKMS in Waterloo region, soundfm.ca on the web. Check out all out work at http://grandrivermc.ca