Author: Vanessa Romo / Source: NPR.org
The first of three Hong Kong-based refugee families who helped shelter National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden when he was on the run, has been granted asylum in Canada.
Vanessa Rodel and her daughter, Keana, arrived in Montreal on Tuesday, eager to embrace their new lives as Canadians.
“I feel so great and I feel like I’m free,” Rodel told reporters at Toronto Pearson International Airport shortly after landing in the country on Monday night.
She described her life in Hong Kong as one riddled with sleepless nights, fear and instability for herself and her 7-year-old since the government there rejected their claims for asylum in 2017.
Now, she said, “I don’t have to worry. … I’m ready to start my new life.”
But her joy was tempered by her concern for the people she left behind. “They’ve been stuck for many years,” Rodel said.
“They have so many troubles in their lives … the kids are having a hard time,” she added.
Rodel moved to Hong Kong in 2002 after escaping the Philippines. She applied for asylum in 2010, saying she was a victim of human trafficking in her home country, but was turned down seven years later. As a result she and her Hong Kong-born daughter had been living in legal limbo — the government designates children…
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