Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - December 2009
A new court ruling has brought the issue of child abandonment to the forefront of immigration issues in Canada.
A 16 year-old St. Lucian child was sent to Canada by his family using a one-way ticket. The family’s alleged plan was to have the child stay with his elder brother in Toronto, who had, years earlier, been sent to Canada in a similar fashion by the family in hopes of better opportunity.
However, Canadian immigration officials learned of the brothers’ case in March of 2008, and have since deported the eldest who was legally considered an adult in Canada. Officials are still fighting to obtain deportation orders for the younger brother and argue that allowing the young man to stay would encourage other parents abroad to do the same with their children.
Child protection agencies are fighting the deportation order, saying that the boy’s welfare should take priority over setting examples to international parents.
To date, the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, the agency handling the boy’s case, has been able to stall deportation, with a recent decision from Judge Robert Mainville allowing them more time to explore other options for the boy.
In his ruling, Judge Mainville also suggested that the case raised the issue of whether Canada’s travel regulations for minors should be altered to avoid such a scenario from recurring.
“Clearly measures need to be taken to avoid similar situations in the future,” Mainville said. “There is no question of encouraging in any fashion or manner whatsoever the act of sending and abandoning foreign children in Canada.”
Source: Montreal Gazette
