While I feel for the person and his family, hard to see how he would be likely to contribute economically. Perhaps on H&C grounds. Immigration essentially is about discrimination, who gets in, who does not, and this strikes me as legitimate with respect to the PGWP:
Growing up in Nigeria, Izaka Jefferson Eugene-Akhere was bullied and called “fat kid,” “Michelin man” and “Big Show.”
Even his father and uncles would make fun of him and joked his breasts were so big that he needed a bra. People just thought he was lazy and attributed that to his binge-eating and binge-watching TV; no one recognized his mental disorders.
Eugene-Akhere would hide in his bedroom and skip classes, letting his grades slip, so he wouldn’t stand out any more than he had to due to his size.
In 2012, the then 18-year-old was hoping to start fresh in Canada when his parents enrolled him in Columbia International College, a private school in Hamilton, to continue his education. After finishing one year of high school here, he started his undergraduate study in business at York University, also as an international student.
But his anxiety and depression continued to haunt him. After twice having his studies suspended by York due to his poor attendance and grades, Eugene-Akhere finally graduated in June 2022. He subsequently applied for a postgraduation work permit, which was refused last November.
Despite his reluctance to attract attention, Eugene-Akhere has put himself in the spotlight by challenging the eligibility criteria of the postgraduation work permit. He claims that requiring an applicant to have studied full time discriminates against disabled students and violates their equality rights under the Charter.
To qualify for a postgraduation work permit, an international student must complete a study program from an authorized institution and maintain full-time student status during each semester, except for the final term, or unless they had taken an approved leave by the school of no more than 150 days.
Post-secondary international students with mental health challenges and disabilities are supposed to be accommodated by colleges and universities, which generally allow the students to go part-time to reduce their workload.
In the past, individual immigration officials would consider the evidence to grant exemptions when assessing postgraduation work permit applications. Sometimes, a student would challenge a refusal in court and win.
However, in 2022, the landscape changed after the Federal Court ruled in two separate cases, those of a graduate from Jamaica who studied at George Brown College and another from India at St. Lawrence College. The court set precedents that immigration officers do not have the discretionary power to modify or waive any of the eligibility requirements for work permits.
“What makes this case different is rather than challenging the officer’s discretion to issue a (postgraduate work permit), we’re challenging the constitutionality of the policy itself,” said Andrew Koltun, co-counsel for Eugene-Akhere with Lou Janssen Dangzalan. They are helping him on a pro bono basis.
“If the policy is ironclad and the policy excludes students with disabilities unintentionally but still in effect, then the policy itself is unconstitutional. No other applicant at Federal Court has challenged the constitutionality of this policy.”
The Immigration Department said it cannot comment on this case because the matter is before the Federal Court.
Born and raised in Lagos, Eugene-Akhere had a middle-class upbringing; both his parents are bankers. His mother and father were barely home and he was cared for by his teenage aunts, a household steward and driver.
“Television and food were my true primary companions during my childhood,” recalled Eugene-Akhere, now 30, who asked not to be photographed for this story as he’s still struggling with mental illnesses related to his appearance.
He started getting ridiculed and bullied about his weight. It got worse after he finished Grade 6 and moved to a boarding school as he drifted further from his busy parents and three younger siblings.
“I felt unloved and that my parents probably thought of me as a failure and did not want to have anything to do with me,” said Eugene-Akhere, whose waist size reached 46 inches. He stands about five-foot-nine.
After spending a year in high school in Hamilton, he enrolled in York University’s business and society undergrad program. He says he would hear people murmuring about his weight and feel like an outcast. Soon, he stopped going to classes and struggled to meet assignment deadlines.
In 2014, York issued a one-year mandatory withdrawal for his poor grades and attendance. He returned a year later but relapsed and was “debarred” in 2017 for two years after his GPA fell below 4.0 out of 9.
In 2019, he reapplied and resumed his studies. He met an academic counsellor and was advised to take a part-time course load. When he finished his degree in 2022, he had had a part-time load in five of his 17 semesters attending the school.
“She would say, ‘You should take your courses little by little so you don’t overwhelm yourself,” said Eugene-Akhere, who didn’t know about the eligibility for the postgraduation work permit at that time.
“There’s always the apprehension for me to be in a crowd. So there was less of that for me.”
A York University spokesperson declined to comment on this case but said the school offers a range of supports and services to international students, including immigration advising through licensed professionals. Accommodations include a modified course load, support with note-taking or peer assistance.
It may also include a reduced course load while still maintaining full-time enrolment status to avoid negative impacts on the international student’s present and future immigration matters.
Upon his graduation, Eugene-Akhere said York referred him to his lawyers, who helped submit his postgraduation work permit application in September 2022 and recommended he get diagnosed, given the learning difficulties he described to them.
A psychological assessment by the Bhatia Psychology Group concluded Eugene-Akhere suffered body dysmorphic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and dysthymia or persistent depressive disorder. Dysmorphic disorder is a mental health condition where a person is constantly anxious about flaws in their appearance.
The associated dysregulation, anxious distress, depressive mood and low self-esteem, it said, could contribute to his struggles with procrastination, worries about making a mistake, attending class and speaking in class, making eye contact with professors and peers, and concentration.
Despite the diagnosis, Eugene-Akhere’s postgraduation work permit application was refused in October and he appealed to the Federal Court.
“Mental health is invisible as a disability,” said Dangzalan. “It’s not in your face, so it’s very hard to spot.
“The postgraduation work permit program offers no accommodation. It’s structured in such a way that it only accepts the healthiest students with no conditions that interfere with their ability to study.”
Meanwhile, Eugene-Akhere is out of status in Canada and must rely on the financial support of his parents, who are struggling back home as the Nigerian currency has fallen to record lows amid surging inflation.
“My parents have invested over $200,000 in me, in Canada,” said Eugene-Akhere, who has been exercising in his free time and cut his waist size to 32 inches.
“I feel like I’m being punished because of my disabilities and my mental health issues. I would like to help my mom, my dad and siblings with bills.”
Multicultural Meanderings 