Wed, January 19, 2005
Group fights to get parents into Canada
By TOM GODFREY, TORONTO SUN
A TORONTO immigrant group is trying to overturn a federal policy against parental sponsorships. Eugenia Yakhnin, 48, of Toronto, said under Judy Sgro, who stepped down as immigration minister last week, the number of parents being admitted to Canada plummeted from 19,300 in 2003 to 6,800 this year.
"Many people affected by this situation feel angry and frustrated," she said. "We are worried about our parents."
Yakhnin said her group, Sponsor Our Parents, was formed to reverse a Sgro ban of parental sponsorships. It is fighting to stop Sgro from returning to head the immigration department as she promised once she clears her name.
Yakhnin said many immigrant women cannot work because their families aren't here to look after their children.
Vitalina Gorbatyuk, 29, said most group members applied in 2003 for their parents to come here.
Gorbatyuk said she dished out $4,000 when she applied in July 2003 to sponsor her mother, father and sister from the Ukraine. She still hasn't heard anything from immigration.
Meanwhile, the Brampton pizza store owner who toppled Sgro has dodged yet another deportation date in his 16-year battle to remain in Canada.
Lawyers for Harjit Singh, 49, will appear before a Federal Court of Canada judge in Toronto today to set a hearing date in a bid to stop his deportation to India, court officials said. He had been slated to be sent packing tomorrow.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Toront...03244-sun.html