It seems it just wasn't meant to be — or was it?
Liberian journalist Gboko Stewart was accepted to Squamish's Quest University nine years ago, but his plans were dashed when the Canadian government froze visa processing for areas, including Liberia, impacted by the rare but deadly Ebola virus.
Stewart then launched a petition trying to get the Canadian government to reverse the freeze.
His study permit was later denied.
He credits the philosophies of Quest with the idea to launch the petition.
"The inspiration to have done that — and I would do it again — came from the very Quest University, which encourages its students to be agents of change. That inspiration has led me to fight for the rights of women in my country and founding Liberia's first LGBTQ news outlet," Stewart says in a GoFundMe launched to help him raise the funds to get from his current home in Montreal to Squamish.
Recently, Stewart sought asylum in Canada as a refugee claimant after he discovered a credible threat had been made against his life related to an online news platform he founded in 2019 that reports exclusively on the LGBTQ community in Liberia, called journalRAGE.
It is not uncommon for LGBTQI+ folks to be targeted in Liberia without recourse.
In 2022, a U.S. Department of State report said, "Significant human rights issues included credible reports of ... crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons; the existence and enforcement of laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults."
The irony is that Stewart has finally made it to Canada, but Quest has announced that it will indefinitely be suspending programming after this month.
Still, Stewart wants to see the school that has been a beacon of possibility to him all these years.
"I was drawn to Quest due to its out-of-the-box method of imparting knowledge to students. Curious about the existential questions I had about the world and life, I realized [it] must be the passageway to finding out the whys," he said.
Stewart told The Squamish Chief that he still thinks it was one of the best schools in the world. A few years ago, he even met up with David J. Helfand, who served as president of Quest University Canada from 2008 to 2015, in New York.
"I did not think I would find myself in Canada many moons later, not to attend school, but to seek safety. And the news of Quest shutting its doors is devastating to those who attended as well as the ones in faraway places that once aspired to.”
His current plans are to attend school in this country.
"I'm here now...so it is better to take advantage of whatever opportunities that are afforded to me," he said.
To help him come to Squamish or to learn more about him, go to the campaign "Help Gboko Complete His Quest."
