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Canada MP Pleads With Immigration Minister Not To Deport Elderly Sikh Woman

Inderjeet Kaur

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Oct 13, 2011
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Seattle, Washington, USA
December 10, 2012

First Published: 11:29 IST(10/12/2012)
Last Updated: 14:33 IST(10/12/2012)

Surjit Bhandal, 83, with family and friends, listens during a news conference discussing her deportation to India at the First Metropolitan United Church in Victoria on Friday.(Courtesy Vancouverdesi.com)
Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Randall Garrison is calling on citizen and immigration minister Jason Kenney to allow an elderly sikh woman who has lived with family in Langford for four years to remain in the country.
Surjit Bhandal, 83, raised her nephews in India, and as they emigrated to Canada they want their aunt to be admitted to Canada as a "de facto" family member.

Three of their applications to remain in Canada have been refused, and now immigration officials want Surjit to appear at a pre-removal assessment on January. 9. An order for deportation is also expected to follow.

Holding a press conference was a last resort, said Garrison. The family was not comfortable going public, he said, but they see no other option.

Garrison has urged Kenney to use his discretionary powers to either grant the elderly woman permanent residency or a temporary residency permit.

"This is a case where humanitarian and compassionary grounds seem so evident, it is unbelievable to me that this case has resulted in a rejection," said Garrison at a press conference in Victoria church.

Surjit had been living with the family for 45 years and has never lived alone. She raised Jasminder and his brother in India because their mother, her sister-in-law, has disabilities.

After most of the family emigrated to Canada, Surjit continued to care for Jasminder's mother in India.

When Jasminder's father died in India in 2005, Jasminder sponsored his biological mother for permanent residency in Canada but he was not allowed to do the same for her aunt as she was not a biological parent.

Surjit Bhandal came to Canada as a visitor in 2008 and has applied three times, and been repeatedly denied, for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Surjit has no family left in India except for an estranged sister she hasn't seen for 25 years and whose whereabouts are not known.

While the family's Indian has been taken over by squatters.

Jasminder, who works as a builder, is constructing a home in Langford with two bedrooms on the main floor that he hopes will be occupied by his two "mothers."

His brother lives in Surrey and is an electrician.

"For the past four years, the Bhandal family has been doing everything in its power to demonstrate that they will take responsibility, complete responsibility, for Surjit in Canada.

"They have purchased insurance, she resides with them, she's in no way ever to be a burden on Canadians," said Garrison.
Bhandal said in the 20 years he has lived in Canada he has been law-abiding and productive. "She is like my mother. I take all the responsibility. My aunt is 83-years-old and I don't know how long she'll live - maybe two years, maybe three years.
"I want to take care of her."

Representatives of various churches are supporting the Bhandal family, including the gurdwara, the Anglican Church and the Unitarian Church.

"This case to me, and in my conversation with the Bishop, is a case we would support in terms of humanitarian and compassionate grounds," said Rev Scott McLeod of the Anglican Church.

He said that case should be an exception to the usual rule and qualifies as one that should be allowed on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Rev. Shana Lynngood of the First Unitarian Church said "sending the lady back does no good for anyone -it would leave her alone, would leave this nation like it had let one of its own down.

"To what end would this woman be send in her remaining years of life to live on her own?" he added.

Surjit Bhandal should be surrounded by her loved ones, he said, "If that's not compassion, I don't know what is."

(Courtesy: vancouverdesi.com)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Punja...rt-elderly-sikh-woman/SP-Article1-970822.aspx


Oh, my beloved Canada, what are you doing to yourself?
 

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spnadmin

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The solution to this tragic situation is to me a no-brainer. By considering her case as exceptional ... and granting the humanitarian permissions to remain in Canada ...nothing bad OMG going to happen. No sort of legal precedent will be set that will admit the waves of undesirable elements that a certain segment keeps whinging about, nor will she take a job, skilled or unskilled., away from a deserving citizen, nor will she influence the mores, values and norms of Canadian citizenry thereby undermining the very core of society. All those bad things aren't going to happen. I suspect rather good things happen when women as giving and selfless as bibi Sirjit ji are in our midst. Inderjeet Kaur, it is not only Canada that is suffering from the problem of mindset. This is happening everywhere and is getting worse each year.
 

spnadmin

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I was just now working my way through some reading on immigration to permanent resident status in the US. And she would not qualify here either. She would not qualify under family status provisions because she is not an immediate relative. She would not qualify under employment status provisions because she was already an elderly women when she came from India 4 years ago, and not employed in eligible categories. Unless she has a lot of money, she cannot immigrate under investor status provisions, and that is only good for 2 years. She would be neither seeking asylum or entrance as a refuge. The only option remaining would be the green card lottery under diversity status provisions. Only 55,000 are available in any year, and someone from India would probably not be eligible to participate.

Whether there are special cases "humanitarian" or otherwise, I can't figure out. The procedures for immigration are really involved.
 
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Inderjeet Kaur

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To be totally honest, I sort of expect this sort of thing from the USA, which has the Calvinist mindset at its very roots, which really opens the door to social Darwinism on a large scale. Clearly, in totally practical terms, this bibi is as useless as I am in that she has nothing to contribute that is salable.

Canada has different fundamental philosophical underpinnings and I expect a more compassionate reaction from Canada.

I will admit that the outcome of the recent elections has softened my feelkijgs about USA compassion a bit, but it was so close to a total takeover by the Right that I'm still shaking a bit.
 

spnadmin

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My question was: Could Surjit move to the US, maybe with a few relatives, say close to the Canadian border? I took the time to make an effort to understand US immigration policy. Got nowhere. Only what I could report.

It would be very interesting if some other members could do the same and take a look. Kind of an informal, but global research project. Which countries have more lenient policies for special cases? Which countries permit individuals to sponsor relatives who are not spouses, or immediate family members (such as aunts, uncles and cousins), biological parents, adopted parents, children under an age-cut off.

The other thing to report. The US has a percentage quota for all countries except China, India, Mexico and Philippines, where the US enforces a fixed number of immigration visas granted each year. It seems that is done because the number of applicants is so high from those countries, all open slots for other countries would be exhausted. That is why the green card lottery excludes those groups.

Remember I don't have 100 percent understanding of all these regulations, and if any SPN member is an expert on immigration law in any country it would be a great education for us. The humanitarian exceptions built into law especially interest me.
 

Luckysingh

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Dec 3, 2011
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To be totally honest, I sort of expect this sort of thing from the USA, which has the Calvinist mindset at its very roots, which really opens the door to social Darwinism on a large scale. Clearly, in totally practical terms, this bibi is as useless as I am in that she has nothing to contribute that is salable.

Canada has different fundamental philosophical underpinnings and I expect a more compassionate reaction from Canada.

I will admit that the outcome of the recent elections has softened my feelkijgs about USA compassion a bit, but it was so close to a total takeover by the Right that I'm still shaking a bit.

I too would have thought that Canada was more compassionate.
I know that in Canada there was an exception to the immediate family rule for 'last remaining family member'.
This could be used in exceptional circumstances like the above, but I'm not sure if any changes have been made to this and if it is no longer available.

I am aware of this exception because a family had used this application many years ago to sponsor their chacha in India. The chacha had no family left back there and was on his own and did eventually get sponsorship to reside with his nephews in Canada.
 

Ambarsaria

ੴ / Ik▫oaʼnkār
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Dec 21, 2010
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I too would have thought that Canada was more compassionate.
I know that in Canada there was an exception to the immediate family rule for 'last remaining family member'.
This could be used in exceptional circumstances like the above, but I'm not sure if any changes have been made to this and if it is no longer available.

I am aware of this exception because a family had used this application many years ago to sponsor their chacha in India. The chacha had no family left back there and was on his own and did eventually get sponsorship to reside with his nephews in Canada.
Luckysingh ji the Operating Guidance is the following and it favors the person in Canada needing someone and not the other way. That is if you are all alone in Canada you may versus if someone is all alone in India per the Operating Guidelines below,
op02-eng.pdf
5.24. Sponsoring one other relative regardless of age or relationship
Sponsors who do not have a living spouse or common-law partner, conjugal partner, a son or daughter, father, mother, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece, who is a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, or any relative or family member who can be sponsored as a member of the family class, may sponsor one relative regardless of age or relationship (anyone connected by blood or adoption). Sponsors submit information concerning family members and relatives on the Family Information Sheet. If a chosen relative is inadmissible, the sponsor may choose another relative.
Basically it is there to help someone who is all alone in Canada.

Regards.
 

GSingh1984

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Mar 28, 2013
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As soon as you're in this country, use the 10 maxims of law etc. to beat any charge or proceeding they have and default them in court; that way you can stay.

I havn't figured out how you would get papers, since the gov. slave-masters have all business running around with licenses etc. but I will make a thread about this soon. I'll start it in Canada, as that's where I reside and hopefully sikhs here can link up and we can get stuff elsewhere. If it's ok I can also copy the thread into other sections, as having the ability to beat any corporation including governments in court 100% of the time, is information that is worth breaking the rules over. :kaurkhalsaflagblue:
 

spnadmin

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If it's ok I can also copy the thread into other sections, as having the ability to beat any corporation including governments in court 100% of the time, is information that is worth breaking the rules over. :kaurkhalsaflagblue:

I do not think you can copy a thread to other threads or forum sections. Only mods and admin can do that. You can copy and paste individual postings to other threads but if these are not relevant to thread topics or steer a discussion off course, they will be deleted, especially if it starts to become spam. If I am not understanding your meaning, apologies, and please clarify. You can also ask admin or a moderator to move a thread for you. But duplicate threads are not permitted.
 

GSingh1984

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Mar 28, 2013
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Just give me some time, and all will be cleared up. :)

I'm thinking then, to have a main thread in general or something that outlines the information; and, as an example have discusson threads in country sections to spear-head initiatives to get info out, help people, etc.

VJKVJF
 

spnadmin

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If you are talking about an immigration law thread, that is a good idea. But if you are thinking of an let's go on the attack thread it may pose a problem. Discussion can become self-defeating. It was actually this thread that had me looking at the immigration policies of several countries. I was amazed at how similar they were. They differ in details, like the max time one can stay on a particular kind of visa. They are similar in the general sense of comparable rules, as in there are max times one can stay on various types of visas, and there are limitations on who one can bring into a country as a "relative." This woman was trapped by the fact that she is an "aunt" and the Canadian law does not recognize an aunt as a mother in the way Indian culture would do.

A good way to use the thread is to gather together laws and ideas for advocacy. Then you would have a group of people who are correctly informed and can lobby in their own countries for change.

I too would like to know what became of her, because the story is really tragic on human not legal terms.
 

GSingh1984

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Mar 28, 2013
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No, a thread about what law is, and how all governments are engaging in fraud; how to beat them in court every time, and be free of licenses, restrictions, taxes, immigration, laws etc.

All one process, and made doubly triply easy anywhere in the commonwealth where there is 'common law'.

I encourage no attacks, simply for people to assert their rights. In the current situation it is best to remain peaceful anyways. :winkingkaur:
 
Jan 6, 2005
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AS A MATTER ON INTEREST:

SANDRA MCCULLOCH - Times Colonist, Victoria, B.C. - 26 Feb 2013
Times Colonist smcculloch@timescolonist.com

Senior can re-apply to stay in Canada


The family of 83-year-old Surjit Bhandal is getting a second chance to have the Indian national stay in Canada based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Bhandal has been asked to submit a new application for permanent resident status. An earlier application was denied, a decision Bhandal’s family protested on the basis that they would support her, so allowing the elderly woman to stay in Canada would not be a burden to the taxpayer.

source: http://digital.timescolonist.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
 

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