Canada Immigration News

2021-02-19 06:30:21 Canada Immigration Blog by Attorney David Cohen 2020: The Year That Was, Perspectives and Prospects The end of 2020 quickly approaches. This year has been unlike any other. The coronavirus has upended the best-laid plans and brought with it unexpected and… Open / Comment

2021-02-19 06:30:20 Canada Immigration Blog by Attorney David Cohen
The Canadian Family is Expanding, Mixed-Orientation Unions Deserve a Seat at the Table

New Canadians immigrate to Canada through a variety of immigration pathways. One of the most popular is conjugal sponsorship. Historically, sexual intimacy has been a key consideration in determining whether a couple is really a couple. But that framework appears to be changing, with dramatic results.
In September 2020, the Federal Court of Canada issued a landmark ruling. Justice Fuhrer granted judicial review of a Canadian permanent resident’s attempt to sponsor a conjugal partner. Their names were abbreviated in public records, the man applying to sponsor was called A.P. and the woman he was trying to sponsor was called A.M.

The facts are somewhat unusual: A.P. and A.M. have a biological child together. But, A.P. identifies as a gay man, while A.M. is a straight woman.

The immigration officer and IAD rejected this application to sponsor, and the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) concurred. A.P. sought judicial review at the Federal Court, and Justice Fuhrer, in her judgment, accepted A.P’s application for review. This development means that the decisions of the officer and IAD are overturned and sent back to another officer for redetermination.

A.P., had previously immigrated from an unnamed country to Canada. A.P. claimed persecution as a gay man in his country of origin. He was successful in obtaining protected status in Canada on this ground.

Afterwards, A.P. met up with A.M., a friend from university, in an unnamed third country. After what Justice Fuhrer describes as a ‘night on the town’ A.P. and A.M. were sexually intimate. A.M conceived and gave birth to a child. A.P. and A.M. decided to parent the child together and A.P. applied to sponsor A.M. and their child.

Despite their lack of shared sexual orientation, A.P. and A.M. claim to be engaged in a mutual and loving partnership and to seek to raise their child together as a family unit.

Justice Fuhrer concurred with A.P. and A.M.’s presentation of their relationship. In her ruling, Justice Fuhrer noted that the fact that the two parties in a relationship are of different sexual orientations, so-called mixed-orientation couples, is not necessarily a barrier to forming a conjugal unit.

Noting the Canadian system’s holistic approach and bearing in mind a number of other factors, such as financial interdependence and the presence of a shared child, Judge Fuhrer granted judicial review, ruling that AP and AM were unfairly denied consideration.

Justice Fuhrer’s ruling rightly recognizes that marital and family units are linked by many bonds, of which sexual intimacy is only one. It is difficult to imagine a heterosexual couple who are not engaged in sexual activity, whether for medical reasons or otherwise, being denied such an application. Therefore, this ruling is a step toward equality for gender and sexual minorities, and perhaps other couples who live in diverse arrangements, mixed-orientation or otherwise.

Ultimately, Judge Fuhrer agreed that the IAD’s decision was based on the officer’s own biases toward such a couple. Justice Further noted that the immigration officer in question did not consider the relevant cultural context from which A.M. came before immigrating to Canada, which would likely make openly discussing the details of his sexual orientation difficult and lead to increased pressure to wed and live the life of a heterosexual couple.

This ruling signals a greater acceptance of sexual and gender minorities in Canadian society, and sensitively considers the unique difficulties they face in certain cultural contexts. In short, IRCC, while maintaining rigorous immigration standards, should refrain from entering [...] Open / Comment

2021-02-19 06:30:16 Canada Immigration Blog by Attorney David Cohen
Family, Facts, and Finally, Flexibility

Kitti Toris is a young woman who turned 18 a few days ago. Born in Hungary, she came to Canada in 2016 to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Viktoria and Laszlo Radi.
Kitti is estranged from her mother, and Viktoria and Laszlo Radi are Kitt’s legal guardians, in both Hungary and Canada. However, due to the complexity and expense of adoption procedures, the Radis never formally adopted Kitti. This important discrepancy meant that the Radis could not sponsor Kitti as a family member even though she was clearly a member of the family.

Instead, Kitti attempted to gain additional status in Canada variously through the pathways for temporary residents, students, and permanent residents, but all of these applications proved unsuccessful. In 2019 Kitti was ordered to leave Canada, but, having no remaining ties with Hungary, remained illegally in Canada.

Happily, in November 2020, Kitti learned that Canada now considered her a permanent resident. It appears that IRCC determined that Kitti qualified for family sponsorship as an orphaned minor relative. This designation is technically wrong, but correct in practical terms: Kitti’s mother is still living, but the two have no relationship, and it does not appear Kitti’s father has any role in Kitti’s life.

Despite the legal uncertainty and ambiguity she experienced, Kitty is, in a sense, lucky. She qualified as a minor orphaned relative only a few months before she turned 18 and was no longer a minor. She benefited from media attention to her case, the activism of her family’s Member of Parliament, and the support of her family and community. She also found a decision-maker in IRCC who was more sympathetic to her case than others had been.

Others may not be so lucky. While Kitty’s situation has an apparently happy ending, the fact that she and her family were subjected in the first place to the anxiety and insecurity of her unclear immigration status is deeply disturbing. I would recommend that IRCC amend its regulations to make clear that it will treat minors who are practical, if not literal, “orphans” as orphans. In other words, the formal adoption requirement should be waived if there is other compelling evidence, such as guardianship, of the practical adoption of the orphan.

As I noted in a recent blog, the Canadian family continues to grow. Only a few months ago, the Federal Court of Canada made very clear mixed-orientation couples who are committed to building a life together also deserve recognition. Kitty Toris, an adoptee in all but name, is another example.

While in both cases the facts – and family ties – ultimately prevailed, stories such as Kitty’s indicate that family is too important a matter to leave to vague, varying, and arbitrary, discretion of government officials. Flexibility is good, but clarity and certainty are better. Canadians, and their families, deserve nothing less.

2021 CanadaVisa All Rights Reserved.

@canadaimmigrationnews Open / Comment

2021-02-19 06:30:16 Canada Immigration Blog by Attorney David Cohen
2020: The Year That Was, Perspectives and Prospects

The end of 2020 quickly approaches. This year has been unlike any other. The coronavirus has upended the best-laid plans and brought with it unexpected and unprecedented challenge, upheaval, and suffering to Canadians and those wishing to become them. But the same circumstances have also brought out remarkable acts of creativity, compassion, and kindness. I want to take this opportunity to reflect on these events, and what they may tell us about the year to come.
The year 2020 began with Canada’s economy thriving, thanks to immigration. Coronavirus had already broken out in parts of the world but it was not yet considered a pandemic. The Government of Canada, in line with international organizations such as the WHO and other countries, implemented, beginning in late January, a series of warning and monitoring protocols, and extended and intensified these measures through February. Already, a relatively small but noticeable drop in immigration to Canada was occurring. However, life went on more or less apace.

Then came March. On March 4, the federal government announced the creation of a new, cabinet-based COVID-19 Response Committee, with Chrystia Freeland, the powerful Deputy Prime Minister, as chair. One week later, on March 11, the federal government announced a billion-dollar rescue, research, and relief package to alleviate the consequences of the virus and also find therapeutics. The federal government had also released its 2020-2022 Immigration Levels Plan, calling for 341,000 newcomers in 2020. Later that week and throughout March, the impact virus reached crisis levels across Canada, as it already had across much of the world. In Quebec for example, public gatherings, restaurants, daycares, schools, and non-essential businesses, were all ordered to close. Life as we knew it changed rapidly and radically.

Canada was also forced to extensively alter its border, travel, and immigration policies. On March 16, Canada announced that it was restricting entry to most people who were not Canadian citizens or permanent residents, and their close relatives. There were exceptions for airline staff, and those engaged in cross-border deliveries. Later that week, most international travel was restricted to only four Canadian airports: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. On March 20, Canada and the United States agreed to restrict most travel between their two countries. On March 26, federal minister of health, Patty Hajdu, invoked the Quarantine Act, requiring incoming travellers to self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival. Certain essential workers were exempt from the quarantine requirement, but those who broke the new rules could face a fine or even imprisonment.

Obviously, these events had a dramatic and catastrophic impact on all aspects of Canadian life. Thousands of businesses closed, some permanently. Millions of workers saw their hours reduced or jobs eliminated altogether. Virtually all Canadians saw their day-to-day lives change tremendously. And of course, thousands got infected with the virus. While most people had light or no symptoms and recovered without issue, tragically, some were infected grievously and even died.

Likewise, the damage to Canada’s immigration flows was enormous. In April, Canada only welcomed some 4,000 new immigrants, which may be its lowest monthly total since the Second World War.

We have also seen acts of generosity, courage, and love. Many asylum-seekers awaiting determinations on their status began caring for the vulnerable and sick, particularly in hospitals and care homes. This has been the case especially in Quebec, which is arguably the province worst-hit by the virus. A movement arose in the province to grant permanent stat[...] Open / Comment

2021-02-19 06:30:16 Canada Immigration Blog by Attorney David Cohen What if we’re doing coronavirus prevention all wrong? As coronavirus started to become more of a serious concern in North America we were told to wash our hands and slow down the spread of infection through… Open / Comment

2021-02-19 06:30:16 Canada Immigration Blog by Attorney David Cohen
Granting permanent residence to “guardian angel” asylum seekers is the least we can do

Marcelin François, an asylum seeker who worked part-time as a nurse’s aide, died of coronavirus in the loving arms of his wife this past April.
François was one of an estimated 1,000 asylum seekers working in Quebec’s health sector, fighting the coronavirus pandemic on the front lines. Many of them do not have access to healthcare, because they have no status in Canada.

The federal government is working on a program that will give asylum seekers a pathway to permanent residence for working in healthcare during the pandemic. It has yet to be approved by Cabinet.

I am glad to see the spirit of Canadian hospitality has not been lost on this government. In the weeks leading up to Minister Mendicino’s presentation detailing the particulars of this program, the discourse coming out of the Quebec government was cause for concern.

Quebec’s premier, François Legault, had dubbed frontline health care workers as “guardian angels,” but then treated the idea of granting permanent residence to asylum seekers working in the sector as a separate issue.

He was often quoted in the press saying, “…we cannot open the door to say, if you come⁠— illegally⁠— if you find a job, that’s okay, I’ll accept you as an immigrant, that’s not the way it works.”

The premier has softened his tone since then, and Quebec has announced a pilot program that will provide a pathway for certain healthcare workers to obtain permanent residence, as a part of recent provincial immigration system reforms.

The premier’s initial remarks did not come from a vacuum, they are rooted in common misconceptions about immigration.

The average person who does not understand the complexities of Canadian immigration might not understand that refugee class and economic class are separate entities with allocations set out by the federal government. These immigration levels are calculated based on labour market demands and support capacity. No one is taking away anyone’s opportunity to work.

Nurse’s aides are in high demand throughout the province. Though these jobs are so essential for our most vulnerable populations, they are difficult to fill given the demanding nature of the work.

Furthermore, it is not illegal to come to Canada and claim refugee status. The people who come to Canada seeking refuge have a resilience that many who grew up here may never know. They have made sacrifices and endured great hardship just to live in this country that many people often take for granted.

Asylum seekers who have taken jobs in healthcare have been suddenly thrust into a warzone during this pandemic. Literally, risking their lives for all of us.

These are the kind of people I want to call my fellow Canadians, people like Marcelin François and his family.

Securing the status of our guardian angels in this country is the simplest way we can say, “Thank you.”

@canadaimmigrationnews Open / Comment

2021-02-19 06:30:15 Canada Immigration Blog by Attorney David Cohen
Canadian kindness during coronavirus pandemic

It is easy to get jaded by all the negativity the coronavirus pandemic has caused in our everyday lives, as a result, we forget how in times of crisis there presents an opportunity for human kindness to reveal itself.
Canadians are often perceived as being polite, kind, and generous. Many of us take modest pride in this fact, and subliminally it leads us to perpetuate that image through acts of goodwill.

From the sea of negativity in media reports, there exists a few pearls; stories of Canadians helping the most vulnerable and spreading positivity during these difficult times.

Take the Winnipeg seamstress, Suhaiba Ahmed, who donated nearly 300 masks to the Immigrant, and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba. Her small business was shut down due to a public health order, and so she has been paying for the materials with the business subsidy funds she is receiving from the Canadian government.

Or Mita Hans who set up the first “Caremongering” Facebook group out of Toronto that sparked a social media movement across Canada. The idea is to connect vulnerable people and individuals who are able and willing to help in their community. The BBC reported cases where people were cooking meals for those who were unable, donating gift cards to someone who was laid off, standing in line at the grocery store to buy food for a single mother’s baby, and other heart-warming stories.

If you walk down the streets of Montreal, Quebec, you will likely come across a window that is decorated with a drawing of a rainbow arched above the words, “Ça va bien aller.” In English, this could be translated to “Everything will be alright.”

The woman who is responsible for this popular message of hope in Montreal is Gabriella Cucinelli, who was inspired by a similar image that she saw in an Italian newspaper. She got her kids to draw the rainbow and translate the inscription to French, it was then shared on social media and took off.

Of course, these are many more stories than what the media can pick up. There are also countless settlement organizations and other non-profits across the country are still working to help immigrants with the particular challenges newcomers face.

We are all in the same storm, but we are not on the same boat. I encourage my fellow Canadians to reach out to one another, and especially newcomers, and show the world that kindness is part of what it means to be Canadian.

2020 All Rights Reserved

@canadaimmigrationnews Open / Comment