Dear Friends,
Calgary’s Emilie and Derek Muth have been exiled abroad almost a year. Ottawa refuses to allow entry to their legally adopted 2.5-year-old daughter Zoe. They’re thankful to all who signed the petition (see brief video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C-QqQ7Aaqs&feature=emb_logo) and ask for 2 minutes of your time this weekend to send an email (details below) asking that Zoe’s citizenship be finalized so the family can finally return home.
Thanks for your help!
Matthew Behrens
Rural Refugee Rights Network
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Below is a template email you can send. You can also cc your own MP. (Feel free to add in a personal statement at the end—ie, “As a parent, I cannot imagine how hard this situation must be” or “A baby's life should not be at risk because of bureaucratic paperwork issues”, etc.)
Subject Line: Allow Baby Zoe into Canada with her Calgary Parents NOW! Finalize the Muth Daughter's Citizenship NOW!
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, Soraya.MartinezFerrada@parl.gc.ca
Dear Minister Mendicino,
I am writing to ask you to help a Canadian couple, Emilie and Derek Muth of Calgary, get home after almost a year spent exiled abroad. This is due to the failure of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to respond to urgent pleas and finalize their legally adopted, 2.5-year-old daughter Zoe’s Canadian citizenship. The fact that this family has had to undergo such emotional and financial stress because of administrative shortcomings is disappointing. The fact that 10 months after their final application went in, it had yet to be opened as of late September, is unacceptable.
While I appreciate that there are many files to be dealt with at IRCC, there is a simple solution here that would prevent this loving family from being forced to travel the globe, searching for medically capable countries that will grant them visitor visas. Zoe’s citizenship files are electronic and can be reviewed by Canadian officials abroad or here at home, including at your offices in Quebec and Nova Scotia (according to the Canadian Citizenship Program Manual). I am asking that you direct your staff to open the file, confirm the documents, finalize the citizenship, and allow Zoe to travel home to Calgary with her mother and father.
The Muths have done everything loving parents would do for their legally adopted child, and they should not be forced to choose between repatriation and leaving their baby behind. As your files would indicate, Zoe faces complications from her Sickle Cell Anemia that have been life threatening. She needs to come to Canada with her parents to receive the medical care she so critically requires.
Emilie and Derek also need to get home to return to work. At a time when Canada’s health care system is facing the pandemic’s second wave, Emilie, a Registered Nurse, is ready to help maintain the health and safety of patients here, but instead, she is forced to stay abroad until your department deals with this urgent matter. Clearly, the ripple effects of IRCC’s failure to act are many.
The family's visitor visas in Barbados expire next month. They should not be forced to continue wandering the globe, unable to return home with their baby child.
Please direct your staff to immediately prioritize and finalize Zoe’s citizenship so they can come home as a family. It’s the right thing to do. And equally important, it’s not too much to ask.
Thank you.
NAME
TOWN, PROVINCE
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