"Some 20,000 Eritreans now live in the Greater Toronto Area. Harassment and fear have followed many of them here.
The Eritrean consulate in Canada asks them to provide T4 slips and other Canada Revenue Agency documents as
roof of their Canadian income. The government of Eritrea then uses this information to impose an additional 2-per-cent tax on their incomes.
Refusal to pay results in the withholding of basic documents such as educational records and birth and marriage certificates.
Family members in Eritrea find their applications for business licence renewals declined. Even those who need nothing from the
Eritrean government are approached and intimidated by agents of the regime to pay the tax."
The National Post is now reporting that the federal government has convinced Eritrea to stop collecting the levy after threatening
to send their only diplomat in Canada home.
"Canada will consider the embassy's request for renewal of his accreditation once it has received written confirmation that Eritrea
has complied in full with the department's expectations … and therefore the consulate has effectively ceased to collect
the 2 per cent' recovery and rehabilitation' tax and the donation for national defence," read the note, by the Department of
Foreign Affairs as reported by the National Post.
"If Mr. O. Micael continues to carry out tax solicitation and tax collection activities in spite of Canada's express disapproval and view
that such activities are incompatible with the normal performance of consular functions, it will expect a notification from the Ministry
stating that such person has been recalled from Canada."
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