It’s been eight months since Anu Sehgal gave birth to her baby boy — but she’s been waiting for Canada to let her bring him home ever since.
The 39-year-old, a permanent resident who lives in Toronto, had her little boy in India last year, but despite following all the right processes, still hasn’t been able to bring him home.
Now, after multiple inquiries to the federal government with little word back, Sehgal wonders if moving to Canada was the right choice for her and her family.
“That was my main motive: to move here for a brighter future for [my] children,” she told CBC News. “I never thought that it would become such a problem.”
Sehgal received her permanent residency in 2019. She originally planned to immigrate to Canada in 2020, but then the pandemic hit.
Last year, another hitch: Sehgal contracted COVID-19 in India. Her doctors advised her to avoid travel, so she had baby there, further delaying her move.
She finally arrived in Canada this past March, leaving behind her baby and husband, who has yet to apply for residency in Canada. The hope was that by the time she arrived, her son’s temporary residency application would be approved.
It wasn’t. Last month, she decided to file a permanent residency application for her baby, hoping to increase the chances of getting a response.
Case should have been expedited, say some lawyers
Immigration lawyers say Sehgal’s applications should have been easy to expedite on compassionate grounds, but could have fallen through the cracks of a backlogged and inefficient immigration system that’s been made worse by COVID-19.
As of May, the IRCC states there are roughly 2.2 million citizenship, temporary and permanent residency applications waiting to be processed — about one million more than before the pandemic, according to the Canadian Immigration Lawyer Association (CILA).
Immigration lawyers Ravi Jain, left, and Adrienne Smith, right, say COVID-19 made immigration timelines worse and the system is still trying to catch up. (Jain Immigration Law and Battista Smith Migration Law Group)
“Why would you not issue the visitor visa in the interim so that the family can reunite?” said immigration lawyer Adrienne Smith, who works with Battista Smith Migration Law Group, based in Toronto.
According to Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada’s website, the average time to process a temporary visa application for someone from India is a little more than four months.
In an email to CBC News, IRCC spokesperson Nancy Caron says the ministry processes 80 per cent of family sponsorship permanent residency applications within 12 months, and welcomed more than 405,000 new permanent residents just last year. That’s the highest annual number of newcomers in Canadian history, IRCC says.
But Smith says cases like Sehgal’s can create a vicious cycle: the more applicants follow up and inquire about their applications, the longer it can take to get them processed because immigration officials need to address those follow-ups, splitting their time between answering inquiries and getting applications processed.
She also says lawyers will look to federal court to intervene in especially egregious cases, which can strain resources even further.
Processing applications in a timely manner would “take the pressure off everyone,” she says.
‘People losing faith in our immigration system’
Ravi Jain, a member of the CILA, says immigration lawyers formed the group last year to find ways to improve the way Canada processes immigrants. He believes if the system is allowed to stay as is, it will continue to let down newcomers and Canadians alike.
“It’s not just the reputation to foreigners that I worry about. It’s also resulting in people losing faith in our immigration system.”
In the IRCC’s statement, Caron says that during the pandemic the department “prioritized the processing of temporary resident visas for essential workers” and for reuniting families, but has since shifted back to standard processing times.
Caron says IRCC is using $85 million in extra federal funding to reduce application backlogs by hiring new processing staff and digitizing applications, among other measures. That’s on top of the $2.1 billion the federal government committed to help process and settle new permanent residents over the next five years.
But Jain says there needs to be greater transparency in IRCC processing times, applications, and reasons for refusals as well as better planning for emergencies that could affect processes, such as COVID-19.
“It’s not good enough to say… ‘We’re spending all this money. We’re hiring all these people,'” he said.
“You guys didn’t pivot, and you’re in charge.”
Looking for answers
Meanwhile, Sehgal says being apart from her son has led her to be diagnosed with depression. She says she’s taking medication to treat it and is looking into counselling.
She’s also considering legal advice and help from immigration consultants to find the best way to move forward.
Sehgal wonders what would have happened if she’d been able to give birth in Canada, or if she would have made the same choices knowing that bringing her family to their new home would be such a struggle.
“I don’t think I would have had the courage … if I had known my infant would not be able to come.”
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
