[LINK] "Eritreans still tapped for tax, refugee says"

[rfmcdonald]

The Winnipeg Free Press' Carol Sanders reports that Eritrean migrants in Winnipeg are still being shaken down by their government to pay a 2% income tax. When I blogged about it last week, I speculated that it would be very difficult to make the Eritrean government stop. This press account, which suggests prominent figures in Winnipeg's Eritrean community are involved in the affair, doesn't make me hopeful.

Last month, the Canadian government threatened to expel Eritrea's consul if the country continued to collect a two per cent tax on Eritreans living in Canada. Canada adopted United Nations sanctions to stop the flow of money to Eritrean defence forces linked to terrorist groups. Eritrea agreed to stop collecting the diaspora tax from Canadians.

But members of the Eritrean community in Winnipeg say they were told at a closed meeting recently they still have to pay it, just not through local channels.

One man said he attended the Sept. 23 meeting at the Ellice Cafe because he thought it was "to discuss Eritrean issues." When he got there, he realized the event hosted by the Eritrean Community in Winnipeg Inc. wasn't an open community gathering.

People had to sign in and write down their phone numbers, he said. Some who showed up were not allowed entry.

[. . .]

He said Lambros Kyriakakos, the president of the Eritrean Community in Winnipeg Inc., spoke at the meeting. He is the president of the organization that sponsors Eritreans who fled the regime. He told the group he'd just visited Eritrea, the attendee said. He said the money Canadian Eritreans are sending to the regime is helping orphans and rebuilding the country. The man in the audience said they were told not to believe United Nations or media reports that their donations are funding military operations or terrorist groups.

He said Kyriakakos told them the Free Press and the Vancouver Province were directed by the National Post to fabricate such stories. The newspapers, they were told, are "mercenaries" funded by Eritrea's enemy, the government of Ethiopia, the man said.

[. . .]

If they don't pay the tax, they'll never get a visitor's visa to go there or their relatives in Eritrea will suffer as a result, say community members and a report to the UN.