Mathieu Cousin, Erika Mistiaen and their 22-month-old son, Nathan, who are faced with deportation back to France because of a bureaucratic backlog, are pictured on Wednesday December 2, 2015. (Michael Peake/Toronto Sun)As a hopeful immigrant himself, Mathieu Cousin supports Canada's decision to accept so many Syrian refugees in the next few months. The French native just hopes our generous welcome isn't coming at the expense of his young family and others languishing in the queue.
Because unless they get the initial immigration approval they need in the next five days -- a simple acknowledgement that their application is in order -- they'll be forced to give up their jobs and their apartment and return to France.
They've done everything by the book. Armed with master's degrees, Cousin, 32, and his partner Erika Mistiaen, 30, came here from Nice in June 2013 under the International Experience Canada program. He soon got hired as a business system analyst, she found work as a customer service rep -- and they welcomed their Canadian son Nathan 22 months ago. This is where they want to raise him and they applied to become permanent residents.
Cousin was originally told by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) that getting approval for the first step in their immigration paperwork would take about eight weeks. Now he's been told it likely will be 18 weeks -- meaning the first stage approval for their permanent resident status won't arrive in time to extend their work permits, which expire Dec. 8. Cousin and his partner will no longer have SIN numbers or health insurance.
No one at CIC will tell him why the sudden increase in the waiting period; no one will confirm it has anything to do with the decision to absorb thousands of refugees from Syria.
Still, it seems like quite the coincidence.
"I've been on blogs and forums on Facebook and a lot of people feel this pushback from CIC and are concerned that their applications, already in process, are being delayed," Cousin says.
He sympathizes with the refugees' plight and understands the urgency of settling them. He also recognizes the system must be overtaxed by these new demands. At the same time, it seems bitterly unfair that his family might have to leave Canada due to a processing backlog.
A CIC spokesman refused to confirm the delay. "We continue to process applications in other immigration streams, including other refugees, according to existing processing standards and to the greatest extent possible," she replied via e-mail in unintelligible bureaucrat-speak.
"We followed the whole process and it's a long process," Cousin complains. "We didn't start yesterday -- it was basically a full year of working on this."
Educated, employed, bilingual, they would appear to be the perfect immigrants. To increase their "value" under the Express Entry system, they paid to have their French degrees assessed according to Canadian standards. In July, they were invited to submit their application online. They were rejected a month later because they hadn't included their original French diplomas. They'd have to start again.
They were invited to resubmit in October. And they've been waiting ever since. All they need right now is CIC's "acknowledgement of receipt" confirming their application is complete. Without that, they can't get the "bridging" work permit they require to stay in Canada while they await the final determination of their status. "Why does it take 18 weeks to read a file and make sure I provided all the documents?" he asks.
They already consider themselves Canadians at heart -- and now they're faced with having to leave their adopted land, the unfortunate victims of Canada's goodwill.
"I have the Canadian flag on my balcony on July 1st," Cousin says. "I never want to miss the national anthem when I go to a Jays game -- even though I feel guilty not knowing all the words. I like when we come back from a trip and we clear the customs at the airport and the officer says 'Welcome home!' because that is exactly how we feel.
"I feel Canadian every day simply because I feel that my life is here now," he explains. "No matter what happens next, Canada is where my son was born and that will never change. Canada is part of us now and I just want that adventure to continue."
Read Mandel Wednesday through Saturday.
Comment:
"Immigration: The boiling pot
There are
two iron rules about immigration in Canada.
- First, you never complain publically about the other guy getting his visa while
your cousin or employee can’t get his
- Second , you never stop complaining privately
I would not
be surprised if the Syrian refugee movement is a tipping point for the collapse
of Iron Rule #1.
Any number
of Canadian clients of European background are openly streaming about
well-established, tax paying cousins or employees being kicked out “in order to make room for the Syrians”
The
eruption of discontent appears to be tied to the election of Mr. Trudeau.
Under the
Harper government, everybody assumed that it was natural that their
families/employees were getting screwed. The perception was that nobody was extended a warm welcome.
Very
quickly, Mr. Trudeau has poured the toxic mix of expectation and anger into the
GTA ‘s Pandora’s Box of immigration needs.
The GTA is
a pretty simple place. You screw enough people and you’re out of a job. Jason
Kenney and Chris Alexander screwed more than enough people.
I’m sure
that Mr. Trudeau understands the above. The question is whether he is so
beholden to the unions that he will do the wrong thing and risk racial discontent.
This is
dangerous."
Richard Boraks, December 3 2015
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