Final Push Friday: Sarah Arrives at Canadian Border Tonight: Call To Allow Her Dependent Kids In!

Sarah and her children and husband JP on the first leg of the Haiti to Vancouver journey. The Americans and Haitians have helped her with the journey, but her own government has failed thusfar. Keep up the pressure!

Sarah’s family is boarding a Vancouver-bound plane later today after the first leg from Haiti. The Haitian and American governments recognized her legal guardian, adoptive dependent kids (aged 2 and 4) are immediate family members. But she needs her government, Canada, to issue Temporary Resident Permits to her kids. Join our Final Push Friday call-in so these kids are not turned back at the Canadian border. Details below.

Today, Friday, September 25, please make Two Calls (sample message below) to demand Temporary Resident Permits for Jean-Moise (4) and Eva Maria (2). Sarah should not have to choose between her own health and safety and that of her children. Sarah cannot leave her kids behind. Feel free to call your own MP as well, urging them to contact Marco Mendicino, the Immigration Minister.

Please call and write to support this family’s safety EVEN IF YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE SO. The family will be at the border tonight. They must be allowed in.

What to Do
On Friday, September 25, please call Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino at 613-992-6361, 416-781-5583 

Sample phone message (leave one if you get the answering machine)

Hi, my name is XXXXX and I'm calling from TOWN, PROVINCE. I’m calling to support Sarah Wallace and her two legal guardian, dependent, adoptive children, Jean-Moise and Eva-Maria Doris. They arrive tonight at the Canadian border. The children need Temporary Resident Permits  so they can stay with their Canadian Mother, Sarah, who needs immediate medical attention to deal with complications, as her pregnancy is now at full term.  Please issue the visas today so the family can stay together. The Haitian and American governments have done the right thing. You can too. Thank you." 

YOU CAN ALSO WRITE AN EMAIL!

(Feel free to add in a personal statement at the end—ie, “As a parent, I cannot imagine the impossible choice before Sarah right now” or “People’s lives should not be at risk because of bureaucratic paperwork issues”, etc.)

Subject Line: Don't Turn Away Sarah Wallace’s Kids at Canadian Border: They Arrive Tonight ! Issue Temporary Resident Visas to Jean-Moise Michael Kessa, aged 4, and Eva-Maria Doris aged 2

To: IRCC.Minister-Ministre.IRCC@cic.gc.ca; Marco.Mendicino@parl.gc.ca

Cc: Francois-Philippe.Champagne@parl.gc.ca; bill.blair@parl.gc.ca; tasc@web.ca; ps.ministerofpublicsafety-ministredelasecuritepublique.sp@canada.ca

Dear Minister Mendicino

Late tonight, September 25, Sarah Wallace and her family will arrive at the Canadian border. She is now at full term for her pregnancy and needs to return to deal with complications. Her two dependent, legal guardian adoptive Haitian-born children, Jean-Moise and Eva-Maria, must be recognized by your government as “Immediate Family Members” and granted temporary resident permits. The Haitian and American governments had no problem assisting this family, and neither should you. 

All of the family documentation before you illustrates what a loving, caring family these two young children enjoy. Forcing them to face possibly indefinite separation if they cannot come to Canada with their mother is cruel and violates our own commitments to the rights of children and families. It further violates our commitments to the rights of women if Sarah, understandably, refuses to leave her kids behind, as that places her life – and that of her expected baby – at increased risk as well, given the extremely limited and precarious state of health services in Haiti.

I am writing to demand that you exercise your power under Section 25.1 (1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Humanitarian and compassionate considerations) to immediately issue Temporary Resident Visas to Jean-Moise Michael Kessa, aged 4, and Eva-Maria Doris, aged 2 so they can cross the border into Canada with their legal-guardian Canadian Mother, Father and brother.
 
You can issue a permit immediately. Your office has issued similar permits to other Canadian parents, many with far less documentation than has been provided for these 2 children, allowing them to bring Haitian children to Canada. The children’s application for permits – with all the necessary supporting documents that show what a loving, strong family they are – has been received by your office.

Tonight, this family will be knocking on our door. You must answer by opening that door and doing the right thing. 

Your Name and Address

BACKGROUND
Since 2008, Sarah (of Devon, Alberta) has worked tirelessly with the mothers and children of Jacmel, Haiti. As a trained midwife, she established the hugely successful Olive Tree Projects, opening a birth centre to address the crisis of maternal mortality, a recycling business, and foster home to offer safe homes and jobs to local residents. 

In January 2017 Sarah and her husband, Jean-Pierre (JP), took in a very sick, abandoned, baby boy and after a few months began the process of adopting Jean-Moise. In March 2018, Haitian social services dropped off a new-born girl who was found thrown away in a cement bag, the placenta still attached.  When social services hadn’t found a home for this little girl, Sarah and JP began the formal adoption process for Eva-Maria too. Sarah and JP are currently legal guardians and, were it not for the pandemic-induced bureaucratic slowdowns, the final adoption would likely have been approved by now.

The impossible choice faced by this family violates Canada’s own legal commitments and Federal and Supreme Court rulings. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child declares that "childhood is entitled to special care and assistance…[and] the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding.”  Indefinitely separating these kids from their loving, adoptive mother is simply wrong.

In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada (Baker v. MCI [1999] 2 S.C.R. 817), declared that  "immigration officers are expected to make the decision that a reasonable person would make, with special consideration of humanitarian values such as keeping connections between family members.”   This was echoed by the Federal Court in 2012 (Damte, 2011 FC 1212) when it said a decision maker “ought to place  themselves in the shoes of the person being affected and ask how they would feel in that exact situation.” In February 2020, (Alexis), the Federal Court overturned the decision of an immigration officer who refused to issue a temporary resident permit to a minor citizen of Haiti with a Canadian parent: "The time has assuredly come for someone to take a holistic and full-fledged humanitarian and compassionate review focused on [the child’s] circumstances and needs.  Technicalities and formalities may be relevant to that assessment, but they decidedly must not be at the heart of it.”

Clearly, the decision that these two dependent children are somehow not “immediate family members” is wrong. While Sarah and her family could go to court and likely win, that would take time and resources they just don't have. 

But the Minister of Immigration, Marco Mendicino, has the power to immediately issue temporary resident visas to the kids under Section 25.1 (1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Humanitarian and Compassionate considerations). He’s done it before. He can – and must – do so here once again.

That is why we are stepping up the pressure. Sarah, JP and their family (including their own biological child, Jean-Jacques), cannot win this struggle on their own. They need our help.

Here is a message Sarah sent by video earlier today: 

“Hi, my name is Sarah Wallace. This is a message for Prime Minister Trudeau and Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino. We need your urgent assistance today. In the throne speech, you specifically stated: "The Government will continue to bring in newcomers and support family reunification.” Well, for months I have been trying to come back home from Haiti with my family so I can safely give birth to my baby. But your government insists that two of my legal guardian, adoptive, dependent children, Jean Moise, who is 4, and Eva Maria who is 2, are not my immediate family members. Right now, we are on U.S. soil on the first leg of a day long trip home to Canada. The Haitian government had no trouble  recognizing our family status and giving my children exit permits.  The American government had no trouble recognizing our family status and granting us entry visas. But we still do not know if we will be able to land tonight in Vancouver because you have yet to issue my dependent children Temporary Resident Permits. I am a Canadian citizen whose kids are being better treated by the Haitian and American governments than my own. You must do better. Please don't make me and my kids have to sit at the border asking to be let in. My pregnancy is now full term and I am at risk of serious complications. I need to get home and quarantine before delivery. You have the legal basis, the judicial precedents, and all the paperwork you need to issue the permits for my 2 and 4 year olds. It's the right thing to do. Don't break up our family. Please issue temporary resident permits to Jean Moise and Eva Maria immediately. "