Montreal Hip-Hop Artist Lucas Charlie Rose Faces Potential Deportation
Rose Launches Petition as Humanitarian Plea to Stay in Canada
Montreal artist and activist Lucas Charlie Rose had his work permit renewal refused last year and may be deported back to France if he cannot obtain Canadian status.
On Wednesday, Rose received a letter saying he needs to leave Canada by May 28.
Rose’s manager, Mikki Bradshaw, started a petition to urge the Canadian government to allow him to stay.
The petition reached just over 15,000 signatures mark this Thursday, but they are still looking for more.
“Canada is the place where I realized I was trans, where I truly fell in love with my identity as a Black person and where I just learned how to finally love myself,” Rose wrote in a Facebook post asking for signatures.
“Canada is also the place where I became an activist. Since then, my work has touched thousands of people all across the world and I want nothing else than to be able to keep doing what I do in the country that makes me feel at home.”
In the past year, Rose has taken part in protests with Black Lives Matter, released an album, and has been a large influence in the Black and trans communities in Montreal.
“Lucas is a change-maker, an incredible friend and support to his communities, and a talented artist that Montreal and Canada has deeply benefitted from and can continue to grow with if he is given this opportunity,” said Lui Ramirez, on the petition’s comment section.
“He has an amazing future ahead of him, and his entire life and livelihood and community and future is in Canada,” Ramirez continued.
Rose has spent less than half of his life in France, a country that is known to offer little healthcare to trans people.
According to SOS Homophobie’s 2017 annual report, the organization that fights violence against the LGBTQ+ community in France, stated it received 1,575 testimonies of anti-LGBT acts in 2016.
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