British kayaker Sam Ward recently moved to Uganda after falling in love with the route along the Nile River. Ward, a former coach of the British freestyle kayaking team, also wanted to use his skills to help make the top kayakers in the country the best in the world.
“There was a lot of talent in Uganda, but they didn’t have a lot of direction or specialist advice. And that’s something I could help them with,” Ward told VICE News from the team’s home base in Jinja, Uganda.
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So last October, he held tryouts and chose four athletes out of 30, three men and one woman, to take to the biannual World Freestyle Kayaking Championships, taking place at the end of the month in Ottawa, Canada. It’s a chance for kayakers to compete against the best in the world and perhaps get scouted for the Olympics.
Freestyle kayaking — also known as the gymnastics of kayaking because kayakers do twists, flips, and somersaults in the water — is one of the newest disciplines in the sport. And the team could hardly wait for their big debut. They trained hard everyday, raised more than $14,000 to cover the costs, and made sure to get their visa application in well ahead of the competition.
But Canada’s immigration officials have twice denied all four kayakers the visas they need to get into the country for the championship. The refusal is based on fears the team won’t return home when it’s over, according to government documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen, despite the fact that two of the Ugandan paddlers have received visas from the UK, Australia, and Switzerland for previous competitions. The documents also reportedly suggest the visas were denied because the officials were uncertain about why they wanted to come to Canada.
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“It was a total surprise because none of the other nations have had any issues. And competing in world championships is a very legitimate reason for wanting to come for an event and it’s not like they’re coming to Canada to visit family, not like any of them would dodge off,” Ward said. “It’s been pretty devastating. They’re self-made heroes in their country who started with absolutely nothing — and they’ve truly earned this opportunity, the chance to leave East Africa for an amazing adventure. “
The Ugandans are the only team out of 27 others to be denied entry. The other teams that have successfully registered for the championship include Ukraine, Russia, Japan, and Slovakia.
According to the championship’s organizers, no one has ever used the competition to defect from their home country.
Now, the team is making a third, last-ditch attempt to get into the country. The cost for each application is $200 per applicant.
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The Citizen reports that in one letter of support for kayakers, CanoeKayak Canada asks the Ugandans to reconsider their rejection. “This is an international event and participation from all countries that wish to compete is imperative to assuring a high level of competition,” the letter said. “Your efforts will go a long way in upholding Canada’s highly regarded reputation as an international sports host.”
One Ugandan on the team, 23-year-old Sadat Kawawa, says he’ll be shocked if their latest round of applications is denied again. “I feel like as if I was born in the wrong side of the world,” Kawawa told VICE News. “If people can move freely around the world, why not me, a Ugandan?”
This isn’t the first time Canada has barred athletes from Africa from entering the country for events. In 2008, six Nigerian wrestlers were refused visas for an Olympic qualifying championship in Edmonton. And in 2012, volleyball teams from Burundi, Morocco, Rwanda, and Guinea weren’t allowed to attend a junior world championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada would not comment on the Kayakers in particular, citing privacy laws, and did not directly answer specific questions from VICE News. “All applicants from around the world are assessed equally against exactly the same criteria, regardless of their country of origin,” a spokesperson said in an email.
Follow Rachel Browne on Twitter: @rp_browne
