World Headlines: Meet a man being deported after 25 years in Canada

First Up

By Manuela Vega

Good morning. Here’s the latest on a grandfather set to be deported after 25 years in Canada, the faces behind suspicious money transfers of unexplained millions and the expansion of a system that failed during the pandemic.

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immigration

After 25 years in Canada, this Toronto man is being deported to Bangladesh

Seeking political asylum in Canada in 1996, Mohammed Mahfuz Alam left his family behind in Bangladesh. Although his refugee claim was later refused, he has spent years laying roots in Canada — working “24/7” until he could buy a modest home in 2004, where he hoped his family could one day join him. His son did just that in 2015 and Alam has been supporting him, a father of four, ever since. Now, after years of delays, Alam is facing deportation. Here’s why, and what he stands to lose.

Wait, what? Alam had been reporting to the Canada Border Services Agency on the third Wednesday of each month. Last November, he missed an in-person interview, and was arrested at work on May 7.
Context: Although deportation is expected to happen as quickly as possible, lengthy appeals processes and other factors can extend the process. In the meantime, those facing removal can work, pay taxes and more.

Darryl Dyck/The Star

investigation

Did a Chinese businessman help froth Canada’s housing market?

Runkai Chen told immigration officials he made $41,000 a year, maximum, while his wife worked as a clerk. So how, after moving to Canada a few years later, did $114 million come to be transferred into their bank accounts? A joint investigation of the Toronto Star and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project identifies Chen and his family for the first time as the faces behind suspicious money transfers of unexplained millions through offshore shell companies and Hong Kong exchanges. Here’s what we know.

Why it matters: The family owns a home purchased for $15.6 million, while their daughter bought a home for $14 million when she was 25. Their investments add to mounting concerns about illicit overseas money flowing into the overheated real estate market, pushing housing out of reach for more and more people.
More: Experts say Canada’s real estate has been flooded with dirty money from the drug trade and other crimes.
By the numbers: As much as $113 billion is laundered annually, according to a 2020 report.

Cathie Coward/Hamilton Spectator

Long term care

Doug Ford is spending billions to expand nursing home chains with some of the worst COVID-19 death rates

During the pandemic, many for-profit long-term-care homes saw higher death rates than non-profit and city-run homes. Still, Doug Ford’s $6.4-billion expansion of the long-term-care system will see private companies get the biggest piece of the pie — with more than half of 60,000 planned new beds allocated for some of the companies with the worst COVID death rates. These are the companies set to receive decades-worth of taxpayer dollars.

By the numbers: Non-profit homes will receive just over 30 per cent of the beds, while city chains will receive six per cent.
Go deeper: “We have this opportunity to do something different,” said the executive director of Ontario Health Coalition. “Instead, we’re setting up a long-term-care system to be chain-owned by the same companies that failed their residents, left them in squalor, abandoned them to die. How could this be?”
Another angle: In contrast, the provincial Liberals and NDP have pledged to end for-profit long-term care.
Watch for: Will Doug Ford remain premier of Ontario after June 2? Here’s what the polls say.

WHAT ELSE

Questions are emerging about the police response to the Texas school shooting.

Ottawa is refusing to provide information about the law used to shut down the convoy.

Toronto police killed a man seen carrying a rifle in a Scarborough neighbourhood.

The Bank of Canada is widely expected to hike interest rates again.

Here’s how hundreds of kids under five got COVID vaccines in Toronto.

Airport delays at Pearson got you worried? Here are some tips to ease the wait.

Ottawa set a new CRTC policy to boost telecom competition.

This is the ultimate place to get street food in Toronto.

J. Cole drew a crowd for the Scarborough Shooting Stars debut.

Is COVID spreading in your neighbourhood? Check our interactive map.

Business groups are blaming Ford’s cancellation of renewable energy contracts for Windsor losing out on a new chemical plant.

Two Peel police officers who shot and killed a Mississauga man testified they wouldn’t have done anything differently.

ICYMI

Steve Russell/The Star

Is basic income dead in Ontario, or just sleeping?

PREVIOUSLY...

Steve Russell/The Star

SEPTEMBER 13, 1999: Ray Liotta checks out his surroundings at the Alliance Atlantis party at the ROM during the Toronto International Film Festival. The “Goodfellas” actor died Thursday at 67.

Before I go, it bears clarification that the Ontario election will take place on June 2 — not July 2, as was noted in Wednesday’s First Up. Sorry about that.

Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

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