DUBAI A Canadian woman slapped with deportation orders can’t fly back home because she has no money to buy an air ticket.
Dr Janice Elizabeth Anderson, 56, from Vancouver, says she needs at least a few thousand dirhams to sustain herself for initial days and fund her one way flight back, but has no one to turn to. “I will be stuck here for years if I am not able to arrange a ticket. There are no charges against me anymore and I have deportation papers,” she told XPRESS on Monday from the Dubai Central Jail in Al Awir where she has been held for months in relation to two cases.
Hard times
XPRESS wrote about Dr Anderson last March when she fell on hard times after allegedly defaulting on a rent cheque. She spent seven months in jail before the charges against her were dropped, but by the time she was out she had lost her job, her money and pretty much everything she owned. In her own words then, her fall was as dramatic as her rise.
“These were some of my darkest days, days I had never imagined I would see,” said the woman who was detained again this year when she tried to exit the country.
In her heyday, Dr Anderson drove a BMW Z4 and lived in a five-bedroom Palm Jumeirah villa, earning up to Dh100,000 per month. “Today I have no friends, no family, no money and nowhere to go when I am out,” said Dr Anderson who holds a PhD in civil engineering and real estate planning and worked as a development director for some of Dubai’s top realty projects
The Canadian embassy in the UAE confirmed to XPRESS that they were aware of “a Canadian citizen detained in the UAE”.
“Consular services are being provided to the Canadian citizen. Senior Canadian officials are in contact with the individual as well as the appropriate authorities in the UAE. To protect the privacy of the individual concerned, further details on this case cannot be released,” said a spokesperson from the embassy.
If you wish to contact Dr Janice, write to editor@xpress4me.com
