A Canadian court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey after he was denied entry into the country for his team’s game against Panama at the World Cup. The Canadian government last week refused a visa for Partey, 33, which led to his lawyers launching a last-minute appeal to the Federal Court in Ottawa. The Black Stars face Panama in their Group L match in Toronto on Wednesday. In dismissing the appeal, judge Roger Lafreniere wrote that Partey sought “extraordinary, mandatory interlocutory
relief” that would have required Canada to set aside a “lawfully rendered inadmissibility finding and facilitate his entry for a specific event.” Ahead of the verdict, Partey’s lawyer Mackeda Bramwell told Reuters they were hopeful of a positive outcome. Bramwell said Partey would not appeal if the judge ruled against him. She did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment following the judge’s decision. Former Arsenal midfielder Partey faces allegations of rape and sexual assault in Britain. He has denied the charges. The
US government has granted Partey a visa, but Canada’s immigration officials said that under Canadian law, foreign nationals can be found inadmissible without a foreign conviction. “When there are reasonable grounds to believe an act that would trigger inadmissibility has been committed by an applicant, they can be deemed inadmissible to Canada,” a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said. Sky Sports News has contacted the Ghana Football Association for comment.
Thomas Partey, Ghana, Panama, World Cup, Canada visa, Federal Court Ottawa, Roger Lafreniere, Mackeda Bramwell, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Group L, Toronto
Canada really be strict huh.
So he didn’t even get to play and now we’re all supposed to pretend it’s just a visa thing? If the US gave him a visa then Canada is just messing with the team for no reason.
I’m not totally getting it but didn’t he already have papers? Like they act like he’s inadmissible without a conviction which is wild. Also the article says he denied the charges in the UK, so why is Canada even involved before anything happens? Sounds like politics mixed with sports, or maybe just bureaucrats being stubborn.
This is one of those situations where everybody’s pointing fingers. If he’s innocent then Canada should’ve let him in, if he’s guilty then how did the US visa go through like that? The judge said “lawfully rendered inadmissibility” which sounds like they didn’t even want to touch the merits. And the court stuff is always last minute anyway, so of course it fails. Smh.