Rejected by Hong Kong, first asylum seekers who sheltered Edward Snowden are granted refugee status by Canada
- Vanessa Rodel, an asylum seeker from the Philippines, and her seven-year-old daughter were due to land in Toronto
- Rodel was among a group of vulnerable asylum seekers who sheltered NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden while he hid in Hong Kong in 2013
One of the asylum seekers who sheltered Edward Snowden in Hong Kong is on her way to a new life in Montreal, her lawyer said, making her the first of the “Snowden refugees” to find safe haven and the latest high-profile refugee to be welcomed to Canada.
Vanessa Rodel, an asylum seeker from the Philippines, and her seven-year-old daughter Keana are expected to land at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport just before 6pm Monday, then make their way Tuesday to Montreal, where a refugee organisation has raised funds for their resettlement.
For Rodel, landing on Canadian soil will mark the start of a new chapter in a saga that began when she fled sexual violence in the Philippines in 2002 and sought asylum in Hong Kong. Her journey took a spectacular twist in 2013, when her lawyer asked if she might shelter an American in distress – and that American turned out to be Snowden.
After the former National Security Agency contractor outed himself as the whistle-blower who leaked details about US government’s Prism surveillance program, he took shelter with Rodel and asylum seekers living in Hong Kong’s cramped tenements, hiding out for about two weeks until he travelled to Moscow.