A transgendered woman from Northern Ireland who has lived and worked in Nova Scotia since 2006 is fighting to stay in Canada.
Tanya Bloomfield, owner of a computer company in Chester, was denied temporary work and residency applications in the last year and could face deportation if immigration officials do not give her refugee status.
Her last temporary residence permit expired last August.
Bloomfield is now completing her refugee status claim and will know by the end of next week if her case will be approved.
If she is not granted refugee status, she will be deported immediately, her lawyer Lee Cohen said Friday.
Bloomfield said she would fear for her safety if she were to return to Northern Ireland where she grew up, near Belfast.
"There is well-documented evidence of homophobic attacks and I grew up there and it's just not a country I want to return to given that I'm transgendered because I'd be at risk," she said.
"I'm feeling really low. I think that's really where I'm at. My friends tell me this is just a bump ... so I have to keep pushing on."
Bloomfield, who has family and friends in Nova Scotia, said she has adapted to Canadian culture and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Halifax Pride as the organization's sponsorship director.
She made headlines in May when she ran a local marathon barefoot and raised $3,000 for a Halifax group serving gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.
"I just have to hope that at some point Canada immigration can see that I do nothing but contribute to Canadian society, Canadian culture, to the economy, to the employment market ...," Bloomfield said.
Bloomfield can apply for permanent residency only if she is accepted as a refugee.
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