Friday, June 29, 2007
CBC News

A man living in sanctuary in a St. John’s church and who’s now taking his battle against a deportation order to Federal Court used pliers to pull an infected tooth after his request for medical help was turned down.Latvian Alexi Kolosov is fighting a deportation order from the sanctuary of a St. John’s church.  Last week, papers were filed with the Federal Court of Canada to fight the decision in February disallowing Kolosov to stay in Canada, said Gordon Sutherland, pastor at the church.

“We feel that the officer who reviewed his file has made some very serious mistakes, and we believe that there is reason for this decision to be reviewed.”

Sutherland said the court filing came after Kolosov asked officials with Canada Border Services Agency for permission to leave the church to see a dentist without fear of being apprehended.

Sutherland was appalled that the request two weeks ago was denied.

“It’s horrible. It’s absolutely horrible.

“He’s not in trouble with the law, except that he is under a deportation order. I can’t believe that in a country like ours that a person would be denied proper medical care.”

Kolosov’s advocates have stood by him for more than two years. They say Kolosov — whose command of the English language is poor — paid money to a consultant to handle his case, but that person instead left the country.

Kolosov’s supporters have included Loyola Hearn, who last year became Newfoundland and Labrador’s federal cabinet representative.

Canadian immigration officials have seldom taken people who have sought church-based sanctuary into custody.