A Nigerian family in Canada faces deportation after their asylum claims were rejected, despite one of the children being critically ill with leukemia.

The Fayemi family, who have lived in Fort Erie, Ontario, for three years, were ordered to leave the country after Canadian immigration authorities denied their refugee and humanitarian applications.

The family had fled Nigeria in search of safety and stability, citing security concerns and alleged persecution, but immigration officials ruled that their claims did not meet the threshold for protection under Canadian law.

Legal advisers said the decision to deport the family came despite ongoing appeals and requests for deferral based on humanitarian grounds. The family’s advocates said deporting them now could put their lives, and particularly that of their sick daughter, at risk.

Taiwo Fayemi, the mother of the family, told CTV News that she received a deportation notice ordering her and her nine children to leave Canada. “It is traumatising for me. I never ever dreamt this day would come,” she said tearfully. “Even the little kids, they come and ask me, ‘Why are we packing?’ I could not tell them.”

Ms Fayemi said six of the children are her biological children, while three are her stepchildren.

“We built a life here, my children go to school here, and now they say we have to leave everything behind,” she said.

The family’s deportation ordeal has drawn national attention because one of the children, 14-year-old Amirat Fayemi, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2022. Her condition requires ongoing hospital care and a potential bone marrow transplant from one of her siblings, a procedure now impossible if the family is deported.

“One of us has to stay, but they’re not allowing any of us to stay to donate our bone marrow for her,” one of her siblings, Biliquees Fayemi, told CTV News. “The hospital is now saying we are no longer covered by the government, and we have to pay out of our pockets.”

Nicole Arghandewal, a postgraduate law student at York University who is advising the family, said the deportation order posed a life-threatening risk to the teenager.

“Her condition is worsening, and she will likely need a stem cell or bone marrow donation from one of her siblings,” Ms Arghandewal said. “If her siblings are deported, her chances of survival drop almost to zero.”

Ms Arghandewal added that an emergency deferral application had been filed with both Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency, urging them to halt the deportation.

“We have asked for intervention to stop this removal and allow at least part of the family to stay while the child continues treatment,” she said.

The family’s situation underscores the tension between Canada’s strict immigration laws and its humanitarian obligations. Community members, teachers, and church groups in Fort Erie have rallied in support of the Fayemis, setting up chairs outside their home in solidarity and calling on authorities to reconsider the deportation order.