Canada has granted asylum to a woman who helped former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden hide in Hong Kong after his leaks exposed US global surveillance programs, a refugee rights association said on Monday.
Vanessa Rodel and her seven-year-old daughter, Keana, arrived in Toronto on Monday afternoon on a flight from Hong Kong, the non-profit organization For The Refugees said.
They were set to travel to Montreal yesterday to settle there as private sector-sponsored refugees.
Photo: AP
Rodel was among a group of people who sheltered Snowden, putting him up in her apartment in 2013 while he was in Hong Kong on the run from US authorities.
His leaks of highly classified documents revealed the existence of global surveillance programs run by the NSA in cooperation with partners Australia, Britain and Canada.
Snowden, who now lives in Russia, was charged in June 2013 in the US with espionage and stealing state secrets. Canada in January granted Rodel, a Filipina, and her daughter asylum, but it was kept secret for security reasons, For The Refugees said.
“Me and Keana can have a real life, a real future in Canada,” Rodel told Radio-Canada by telephone before she boarded an airplane to Toronto. “I’m so happy.”
In a tweet in French, Snowden gave “thanks to all who, in Canada and across the world, made this possible. After so many years, the first of the families who helped me is free, and has a future.”
“But the work is not over. With solidarity and compassion, Canada can save all of them,” he added.
Five other people who helped Snowden have also requested asylum, but remain in Hong Kong awaiting a response, the daily National Post reported.
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