Abdoul Abdi came to Canada as a child refugee with his sister and aunts. The family fled Somalia together but Abdoul, who was six at the time, wound up in the Nova Scotia foster care system where officials failed to file his citizenship. Now, with a spotty past that includes jail time, the 24-year-old is facing deportation to a war-torn country he barely remembers.

For more on Abdoul’s story, the interview for The National I tagged along on to get these portraits is linked —> here. The interview, and the photos, were shot at Flavelle House at the University of Toronto faculty of law.