Name: Johnson Yousafi, his wife Aneela, and their children Adsen (16), Ashlay (14), Jenveen (12) and Noshima (10)

Profile: A Pakistani Christian, living in Malaysia as a refugee for more than seven years.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, driver

Risk: At the risk of being killed by the extremist group of Al-Qaeda if returned home.

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

Johnson and his family are Pakistani Christians. As Christians, they always faced discrimination and persecution in his country. His Extremist neighbour forced his children to learn Muslim prayers. When Johnson tried to talk to his neighbor, the neighbour accused Johnson of blasphemy - a crime that is punished by death by extremists. The neighbour and his fellow Al-Qaeda extremists beat Johnson and burned his face with chemicals. Knowing that he and his family would be killed one day, they escaped to Malaysia in 2014.

While living in Malaysia, they have been deprived of their basic human rights and Johnson and Aneela are really concerned about their children’s future. The children are not able to attend school, and Johnson and Aneela are not allowed to work to support their family. They need is a group of five Canadian friends who can sponsor them to live freely and pursue their dreams in Canada.

Acid Attack

Johnson Yousaf was born in Lahore, Pakistan. Being from the Christian community, he experienced discrimination and persecution by extremists. With time, he learned how to bear the pain and humiliation of being treated as a second-class citizen in the country. He always tried to blend in and live like other citizens in his country where they are of the 1.6% minority and Muslims are 96.4% of the population.

Johnson was staying at a rented house in Lahore. In May 2014, his children were playing outside of his house, and his Muslim neighbor Mohammad Latif-ul-Rehman, took them to his own house and started teaching Holy Quran and Muslim prayer. He did not ask permission.

“When I heard, I went and spoke to him. While negotiation, they accused me of blasphemy and started shouting and saying “Johnson did blasphemy”.

Johnson’s neighbor accused him of using derogatory remarks against Quran and prophet Muhammad. He was then tortured and beaten by his extremist neighbors.

“One of them threw chemical on my face and my face was completely burned.”

They also filed a report against Johnson at SP Civil Line, Lahore. He had no way but to escape from there and save his and his children’s lives.