Redacted Journal - July 1-7, 2019

(This has been edited and most names have been changed.)

July 2019

July 1st, As I approached the apartment building, Igor and Lucas were sitting outside. Lucas asked me, "Are you American?" "Yes." "Are you from Virginia?" "How did you know she was from Virginia?" Igor asked. "It's something in the face." Lucas responded. I had not communicated to anyone connected with this building except Claire, and I hadn't told her I was from Virginia. I hadn't told her too much personal information at all. [I believe I wrote this about 15 days after it happened. Lucas spoke like he was joking, as though he was laughing at the absurd situation of me being stalked by them. His mood became more serious later. I think he got in trouble for spilling this to me as it is pretty strong evidence of coordinated stalking. I started journaling almost every day on July 2nd. -3/24/21]

July 2nd, [Back story] On a bus during my second week in Canada, I took a moment to think about what I was going to say to a guy about my situation, and withheld that I was a refugee. I also told people at a library that I was a tourist before correcting that I wasn't exactly one. When visiting Tori (the girl I was considering renting a room from while I stayed with Willow), she asked me what my status was. I said I was getting a work permit. The other girl there also asked questions about my status. It seemed they were trying to test and see if I would lie. I couldn't find a place to stay after the refugee center said they couldn't take me in, and got a last minute Airbnb in Stella's town. The next morning I felt like I might collapse. (So I was desperate to find a place.) There was an ad posted on Craigslist for a room that I marked as a favorite. Then the landlady, Claire, calls me back and asks if I work or go to school, then asks me directly if I am a refugee. I don't answer and she says it's alright. When I went to see the room on the 30th, she wasn't there, so I had to come back the next day to sign the lease. I had to go to the hostel I had booked with a debit card.
In the line in front of me there was a Spanish speaking person trying to make a reservation, but he had no credit card, and the man behind the desk said it was impossible to let him book with just a debit card, so he left. I volunteered the information that I had booked with a debit, and that the girl had said it was okay. He said it was okay, I was already in the system. Test: will Sharon withhold information or lie to get a place to live and not sleep on the street?
Back to July 1st, After this, I went to Claire's building. The sign board for all the buses and the single sign for my bus were glitching, so I could not see my schedule. Also, my Google maps app wasn't working. I waited with a man who said he used to work for the US government in Morocco. [I walked away and came back and he asked me if they told me where to go. I said no, I had already been this way before. Then he looked really frustrated. -3/24/21] When I went to the building, I asked a tenant about living conditions, and he was happy. [He said it was a quiet place. -4/12/21] Claire called right after, and said she personally would not be coming at 2 pm. The lease had some issues. I had asked for it the previous night but it had only been sent that morning after I started taking pictures of my licence. I was unsure whether it would be safe to give someone else the money with no lease. Only after Claire received a picture of my ID, not just my name, did she send me one filled out but the price was increased by $60. I pointed that out to her and she said she made a mistake. A man who overheard me reassured me that Emilia was coming to take money and does work here. I later learned his name was Nolan. He was on the phone at the time. I looked over everything, and replied to Claire with my questions. One of which was concern over a $900 bill from the fire dept for the fire alarm going off when steam leaves the bathroom.

My first question related to a part in the lease that seemed to allow my landlady and her representatives to come in my room without telling me for an indefinite period of time. I asked her to clarify that. Also, that text is a bit smaller.

I went shopping that afternoon after accepting the lease. A man spoke directly and persistently to me in French, eventually switching to English, but he suggested we get married twice. I walked away, not happy. "Why are you walking away?" He asked. This morning, I couldn't find my to do list. I wrote another and went to Canada Post to get a mailing address. At the building where I lived, everyone’s mail was put together. The girl, grinning at me, said she didn't have any, and I was to go to the next one. A woman stopped me along the way to ask for directions to a store I'm not familiar with. [This was typical to test my mood. If I acted upset or disturbed by the harm just done to me, more would follow. -3/14/20] At the next place, I was getting the PO box, but the girl was about to help me sign a document in French I hadn't read, and I blocked her finger. After I left, a man stopped me to ask if I had any cigarettes. I bought Tram (a metro and bus pass for the month), got a library card, and changed my address... At my bank, the man in line in front of me was flirting with the lady behind the desk, and she didn't like it. When I was buying my Tram card some weird guy got in my face and asked for a dollar. At the library, looking at French classes, I was writing information, and a man asked for my pen. I met a young man, Joel, outside my building, who seemed very happy to meet me. When I got home, there was a warrant demanding $914 for someone who used to live here. [I had just balked at the $900 bill in the lease for a mistake that may not be in my control. Here was a test to see if I was disturbed by the thought of the high fine. -3/14/20]

July 4th, I spent part of the morning not being able to update my address with the IRCC. I eventually got through to a representative, she refused to help per "rules," but she gave me two ways to change it online. Either no browser would let me select that I agreed to the terms, it did not recognize the information I put in, or it just kept sending me back to the previous page. I called about French classes and was told it was impossible to sign up for summer classes. I went to the bathroom at Longueil station. The girl next to me had shoes sticking into my stall like she was standing beside the toilet facing my stall. Water flooded the floor, and security came in as I was washing my hands... I gave an emergency blanket to a homeless guy in the heat, and a few minutes later a woman claiming to be pregnant and hungry asked for money to go to a shelter but didn't want me to take her there. I went to the refugee organization that missed my appointment with the lawyer for the Thursday French conversation their website said they had, but Katrina said they were not going on during the summer. I said she looked very familiar, and asked if she was a legal aid. She said she wasn't. I asked to speak to the other girl there, but then Katrina did admit she had spoken to me earlier, and did work with lawyers. I asked her if I could have a copy of her notes, but she said she didn't take any, or a recording. She just described my case to the lawyer, and he said he couldn't take it because cases with America are more complex, but if I was going for a work permit she could help me out. She seemed nervous speaking with me. [I believe I was turned down by a lawyer who gave the reason my case was too complex not long before. -3/24/21] I went to the library where I changed my address with immigration (later to find out it didn't take)... Ellie, a woman living in my building, kept talking about how terrible the landlady was, and that I should just do things in my room and not tell her.

July 5th, I successfully factory reset my phone. It had not been logging on any websites on Firefox since I stayed at the hostel. It would just reload the login page. So I logged in, and began setting up money transfers from my US bank. As I was trying to set up online banking with my other US bank account, it enrolled me, but the password I made didn't work. The website kept telling me to call to fix it and had several different numbers. I had to wait for a callback while on hold. I was not able to fix it. He was wondering why it was so hard to hear me, and I said I thought it could be the app I was using, and then my call was dropped. After joining twitter in an attempt at an alternative method of contacting the bank, they just gave me another number. I got put on one or two more waiting lists and was never called back...

July 6th, ... I tried to call the bank again... She transferred me, and at first I was able to speak to an American for a few minutes until my call got dropped. I called the Canadian side again to get transferred and the call dropped just as I transferred.