Our goal: To collect signatures in support of Ler Wah Lo Bo obtaining his permanent residence status in Canada. Ler Wah Lo Bo is a Burmese refugee living in Toronto and wishes to visit his children, who he hasn't seen for 8 years. Your efforts in signing and sharing this petition are much appreciated.
Click here to watch the trailer of the documentary short I Met a Man from Burma featuring Ler Wah Lo Bo.
Full description:
Who is Ler Wah Lo Bo?
Ler Wah Lo Bo is a Karen refugee from Burma (now Myanmar). (Note: The Karen people make up the largest ethnic minority in Burma.) Now in his 50s, Lo Bo resides in Toronto where he works as a phone interpreter for Karen people across North America and helps newly-arrived Karen refugees settle into life in Canada. He is also a wonderful musician and campaigner for his homeland.
Lo Bo has lived in Canada since 2002. In the same year, he received his refugee status but was only recently told his application for permanent residency was inadmissible because he had engaged in or instigated the subversion by force of the government of Burma. Ler Wah was a teacher and member of the Karen National Union [KNU] Karen National Liberation Army [KNLA) (which he voluntarily disclosed to Canadian officials). After 16 years of service, Ler Wah left the KNU to set up refugee camps, and NGO mapping and monitoring for land mines along the Thai-Burma border. He also worked as a Thai, Burmese and English translator and researcher, and was responsible for collecting footage (as well as being a cameraman) for films on child soldiers and for the documentary Burma: Anatomy of Terror (narrated by Susan Sarandon and released in 2003).
Ler Wah has appealed his case and is still awaiting a response. "There is no reason why it takes so long for the minister to make a decision, it feels like I've been in house arrest all these years, like in Burma," says Lo Bo.
When he was accepted as a refugee, Lo Bo assumed that he was on his way to becoming a Canadian citizen and that it was only a matter of years before he could bring his wife and children over from the refugee camp in Thailand. In 2007, after his family relocated to North Carolina, his wife was killed in a car accident. Ler Wah Lo Bo was not able to travel to attend her funeral; he has not seen his children in 8 years.
We thank you for reading, signing and sharing this petition!
Kindly,
Diversity Face Films & Ler Wah Lo Bo
For more information on the documentary short, I Met a Man from Burma, please click here.
Press on Ler Wah Lo Bo's fight for permanent residence:
We the undersigned are in support of Ler Wah Lo Bo obtaining his permanent residence in Canada.
Ler Wah Lo Bo is a Karen refugee from Burma and an exemplary person. Since 2002, he has lived in Toronto where he works as a phone interpreter for Karen people across North America and helps newly-arrived Karen refugees settle into life in Canada.
He has not seen his family (which now resides in North Carolina) in 8 years. Without his permanent residence status he cannot visit his children.
Canada is regarded as a peaceful country which extends help to those who need it. Let's do the same for Ler Wah Lo Bo. Eight years is too long of a wait.
