Law forbids immigrants from sponsoring children, spouses left off initial application The Globe and Mail – October 24, 2005 BY MARINA JIMÉNEZ When Nguyen Van Hai fled Vietnam, he cried for the baby boy he was forced to leave behind. Poverty and the chaos of civil war had separated him and his girlfriend, who had sole custody of young Chien. In 1987, Mr. Hai escaped to a refugee camp in Hong Kong with his mother and three siblings. He married another woman before being accepted three years later on Sept. 5, 1990, to come to Canada, part of the massive influx of Vietnamese boat people who arrived in those tumultuous years. On his application form, Mr. Hai made a crucial decision that would come back to haunt him. He did not declare his out-of-wedlock son, afraid it would jeopardize his family’s chance of being accepted as immigrants — and fearing to…

The Globe and Mail – June 24, 2005 BY JEFF SALLOT WITH A REPORT FROM MARINA JIMÉNEZ OTTAWA — Six months after the devastating tsunami that washed away hundreds of Indian Ocean coastal communities, the Canadian government’s aid agency has signed only two contracts for reconstruction projects, worth a total of $9-million. One is a water-supply project in Indonesia and the other involves training construction workers in Sri Lanka. But the Canadians who donated millions of dollars to tsunami relief in the expectation of government matching funds should not be concerned by the pace of the effort, Aileen Carroll, the minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency, said yesterday. “In coming weeks and coming months additional reconstruction projects worth tens of millions of dollars will be put into action,” she said, estimating that the scope of what’s required “will be measured in years and decades.” A spokesman for the minister, Andrew…

CBC NEWS Monday May 2, 2005 A Colombian man who came to Yukon fleeing guerillas in his own country has been granted refugee status. A decision by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee board last month means Alejandro Ospina and his wife can stay in this country. “I couldn’t believe it. I read the letter a couple of times,” says Ospina of the notice he received. Ospina had appeared before a refugee board in Vancouver and recited his experience in Colombia. “The guerillas wanted me to be part of their team, their army and I refused,” he told the board. Ospina says because he refused to join a leftist rebel group he received numerous death threats and fled to Canada. He and his wife moved to Whitehorse less than a year ago. Ospina and his wife came to national attention last December, when his wife, who was only days away from giving…

CBC NEWS – August 24, 2004 Refugee claimants from Latin American countries are getting ready to go before Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board. There are about 50 refugee claimants from those nations living in the Yukon. And an immigration lawyer says claimants originally from Colombia may stand a better chance of being accepted. Max Berger says that the political problems in Colombia are well documented – and that weighs in favour of refugees from the South American country. Claimants from stable countries like Costa Rica have a much lower acceptance rate. Berger recommends claimants appearing before the Immigration and Refugee board have legal representation.

The Globe and Mail – August 12, 2004 BY MARINA JIMÉNEZ More visa restrictions, foreign interdiction hindering asylum seekers, advocates say Increased security measures in Canada and the United States in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of refugee claimants in Canada, advocates and lawyers say. In the first six months of this year, Canada received 12,207 claims, the lowest number in a decade. This represents a 30-per-cent decline from the first six months of 2003 and a 45-per-cent drop from 2002. “The U.S. is seeing a similar drop. Refugees are being made to pay the price for anti-terrorism measures,” said Janet Dench, executive director for the Canadian Council for Refugees. The Immigration and Refugee Board would not speculate on why the numbers have dropped. More stringent visa requirements and increased interdiction overseas mean it is now more…