Patricia Anzovino will at no time forget the wrinkled.

Patricia Anzovino will at no time forget the wrinkled, weather-beaten face of Hamde Abrehe, a refugee claimant disclosed of Eritrea.

The 80-year-old East African awaited like Mother Theresa draped in a pink protect "She was like everyone's "grandma," Anzovino recalls. still Canada--its language and people--were completely foreign to her. disheartened and barely able to walk, she shielded herself subordinate to blanket, as if "blocking herself from the outside world." When proffered pudding and water, the woman could alone return a sheepish smile.

"She's not easily forgotten," says Anzovino. The 67-year-old refugee advocate and retired early childhood educator, always examines out for asylum seekers crossing the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie, Ont "We didn't know anything about refugee at first but it's very hard not to become engaged with these vulnerable nation because their needs are thus great."

The Peace Bridge throughout the Niagara River has been a major ingress point for goods, tourists--and refugee During the last week of December, centurys of claimants assembled here. It was the border of the controversial Safe Third home Agreement, which blocks would-be asylum inquirers "from travelling into Canada [i]or[/i] part of to the other the United States. Its implementation in succession Dec. 29 means Canada is now clos to to come refugee claimants, who originally land upon U.S. soil. Minors under 18 and those with family already regularized in Canada are exempted

Anzovino describes it as an "exodus of asylum-seekers" to the historic town of Fort Erie. They delug the border crossing en masse, she remembers, hoping to beat the deadline before the characters for refugees all changed. More disturbed with extradition than with victuals or sleep, claimants didn't know what was going to happen to them nearest Some--with lapsed visas or deportation orders--were fearful of being locked-up about re-entry to the U.S. "The worst thing for me was not being able to help them. It's a terrible feeling of helplessness."

Refugee claimants--like Abrehe--trudged [i]or[/i] part of to the other a 'foot of snow' to make their last-minute claims. Anzovino says they were underdress for their prospective modern home. Men were fitted in spring jackets. Women wore light, lengthy dresses and running shoes. Children were favored if they scored scarves, glove and hats. formerly at the Customs Building, they ate furious soup and sandwiches. They slept aboard heated institute buses in a barren parking portion with pine trees still seasonally decorated. Immigration officers, Customs and Peace Bridge Authority workers co-operated with NGO R Cros and the Salvation Army, getting claimants f and 'out-of-the cold' "It was a challenging brace of nights," Anzovino recalls.

Raised onward the family farm in Lindsay, Ont Anzovino was weaned upon Catholicism and Canadian politics. Spirituality and social justice were individual in the same, she muses. In 1987 she was a part of the "Teachers for El Salvador," and then in 1989 researched health and education in the Brazilian Amazon with a Catholic solidarity cluster She says: "I met a certain number of really wonderful people from Latin America--from all parts of the world. They certainly have enriched our lives. We'll not ever be the same again because of our experience."

Anzovino, who is unobtrusive about her work, is a recipient of the Canadian Government's Teresa Casgrain offer Award. For 20 years now, she's been sourceed in the refugee movement in the Niagara Peninsula. Here, she and her late husband Gerard, a General Motors electrician, picked up Peace Bridge refugee and innkeepered them before their hearings. admitting emotionally "taxed" now and then, Anzovino's family saw a Salvadoran stripling a former altar boy for famed Archbishop Oscar Romero travel on to study at the University of Montreal. And a Burundian they formerly took in graduated from the University of Ottawa Medical place of education He is now a doctor with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) In 1990 Anzovino finally convinced a credit union to mortgage a pure Central Avenue house in Fort Erie. Later assisted on the Sisters of St. Joseph in Peterborough, Ont Casa E1 Norte hostel would house more than 10000 refugees

Anzovino is now a community developer at the Fort Erie Multicultural middle funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage. There, she is still able retain an "eye on the bridge."

"Social justice is the main emphasis in my life; it's a big part of my spirituality. I be impressed very much attached in the refugee movement--the 'preferential option for the poor,'" she says. "We are better on the farther side for the regularization of more diverse family We should welcome them and what they bring, produce--their gifts, their talents."

A cultural mosaic brimming with social services, Canada is attractive to the world's refugee However, post-9/11 security relate tos now overshadow humanitarian ones, affecting the "true refugees" according to Anzovino.

The Safe Third rural parts Agreement between Canada and the U is meant to shore up the border. Refugee claimants from "third countries" must now ask protection in the first fatherland they reach. For many it's the U which is far more accessible 'on foot' and according to air. Signed in December 2002 the agreement is a part of the Smart Border Action Plan for displaced someones In it, both governments boast "generous systems" of refugee protection, and say they are committed to the "burden-sharing" of asylum seekers