Family still stuck in Sudan after being approved to come to Nova Scotia in 2020

Save for a few beds, a dining table and some living room couches, a two-bedroom apartment in Halifax sits empty for the second month now.

It's meant to house a family — a mother and her two daughters originally from Eritrea — who are now living in violence-stricken Khartoum, Sudan.

Dan Campbell is with the Halifax Eritrean Refugee Sponsorship Group. He said more than two years ago, the committee submitted the paperwork for Yrgalem Weldu Belay and her two daughters, Helen Solomon Kiflesus and Furtuna Solomon Kiflesus. In November 2020, the family's sponsorship application was approved by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. But they've remained in Africa in the meantime.

"We're here 29 months later now. We've been patiently waiting, understanding from the outset that this might take a year or a year and a half … even with delays due to COVID. But we're going on three years now," he said.

"That patience is running thin and with the news of the events in Sudan, there's a renewed sense of urgency."

Violence in Sudan's capital broke out earlier this month after power-sharing negotiations broke down between the armed forces and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces.

Since then, hundreds of people have been killed and thousands injured. The Canadian government announced on Sunday it was temporarily suspending operations in the country.

Campbell said in the last few years, the family was able to secure housing and work in Khartoum after spending years in a refugee camp elsewhere in Sudan. The group has also sent money to help with any costs that come up while the family waits.

The Halifax Eritrean Refugee Sponsorship Group has agreed to support the family for two years in Nova Scotia, paying all their expenses, helping the girls enrol in school and their mother find a job.

This marks the second month the group has used funds it raised to pay for an apartment they've been holding for Belay and her daughters.

Campbell said the furnished apartment has been waiting for the family's arrival, "which we thought was imminent, and now we're told there are still some [documents] required that will prolong the wait."

Earlier this year, the group heard from immigration officials via the office of Halifax MP Andy Fillmore that a single form was outstanding before the final processing of their visas and travel to Canada could be arranged.

This weekend, the group sent a letter to federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser along with his parliamentary secretary, Marie-France Lalonde, and Fillmore imploring the government for action on the family's behalf. They want the government to finalize the family's existing permanent residence application and to commit to provide evacuation and the facilitation of visas required for travel outside of Sudan.

Most recently, Campbell said the group was able to connect with the family via text and learned that Belay and her daughters left their home to stay with friends after a nearby building was hit with gunfire. They hope to flee Sudan and head for either Egypt or Ethiopia.

Current situation in Khartoum

The chair of the Sudanese Association of the Maritimes, Huwaida Medani, said residents in Khartoum are essentially "under siege."

"I have family members in Khartoum," she said. "They are shelling and air striking and bombing people in residential areas, so nobody can go anywhere. People are killed in their own homes."

Many areas of the city are without water and electricity, making it difficult for those who remain in Khartoum.

Abdel Musa, a co-ordinator with the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, said fighting has broken out in Sudan's other major cities as well.

Musa, who came to Canada from Sudan as a refugee, said there are many refugees in Sudan who are originally from other countries including Eritrea, Ethiopia and Syria. 

"The problem comes for the refugees that are in Khartoum," he said. "They are just like any other Sudanese. At this point, everyone is surrounded and they cannot move anywhere."

Hope for government intervention

Campbell says his group is hoping for direct action from the Canadian government to move the case forward.

"We hope the situation in Sudan and the situation that these people find themselves in can be looked upon in the same way that we look at other areas of the globe in terms of the immediacy that we've responded to other conflicts with," he said.

"I think that our hope is that our federal government comes up with a plan quickly to respond to this."

On Thursday, Defence Minister Anita Anand announced that Canada had conducted its first flight to evacuate Canadians from Sudan. Senior officials from the Department of National Defence and Global Affairs Canada later confirmed a second flight had left Khartoum.

CBC News reached out to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to see whether the evacuation operation will include refugees who have approved sponsorship applications.

Department spokesperson Isabelle Dubois said in an emailed response that the government will "prioritize the processing of completed temporary and permanent residence applications already in the system from people still in the country.

"This will facilitate immigration applications for those still in Sudan so they can travel once it's safe to do so," Dubois wrote.

The IRCC did not address questions about whether striking Public Service Alliance of Canada workers will affect the department's ability to process those applications.

When asked followup questions about the timeline for active temporary and permanent residence applications, as well as whether refugee sponsorship applicants would be evacuated from Sudan, the department wrote, "We are unable to provide you with the information requested at this time. More information will be made available to media as soon as it is available."