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Couple pins hope on Trudeau government to be reunited with four-year-old son
HUGH ADAMI, OTTAWA CITIZEN
More from Hugh Adami, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: December 18, 2015 | Last Updated: December 18, 2015 7:22 PM EST
Bhavna Bajaj and her supporters plan to provide Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with this photo of four-year-old Daksh Sood and his plea.
A mother and some supporters are hoping they won’t be turned away from the Prime Minister’s Office Tuesday, and if Justin Trudeau is around and agrees to meet them, all the better.
Though Bhavna Bajaj might have unrealistic expectations of how quickly the new Liberal government could move to finally allow her four-year-old son, Daksh, into Canada, she is buoyed by its efforts in settling Syrian refugees in this country. If it can do that for so many in such little time, she says a little boy who needs to be with his parents shouldn’t pose a problem.
Bajaj and her husband, Aman Sood, have been separated from Daksh, who lives with his paternal grandparents in India, for almost three years. Efforts to convince the former Conservative government to reunite the family failed.
Immigration officers at the Canadian consulate in Delhi only added to their despair. One who reviewed their application in 2014 to have Daksh admitted on humanitarian and compassionate grounds actually concluded that Daksh was better off in India, residing in an environment “culturally and linguistically familiar to him.”
This year, immigration officers at the consulate did not seem to have understood two separate visa applications filed by the parents’ lawyer. The first application was returned because it was believed the child needed a work visa instead of a temporary resident permit (TRP). The second was sent back on the grounds that the application should have been for a business visitor’s visa and not a TRP.
“It’s so frustrating,” says Bajaj.
The application for a TRP has been sent to India again. If Daksh is allowed into Canada, they will seek a permanent resident’s visa — which his parents already have under the skilled worker category — on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
The couple’s troubles with Immigration, first reported by the Citizen a year ago, stem from failing to disclose they had a young son they intended to sponsor before they arrived in Canada in January 2013. The plan was to bring Daksh to Ottawa once they were settled.
On Tuesday, Bajaj and her supporters plan to go to the Langevin Building, home of the Prime Minister’s Office. The group wants to present copies of an online petition — signed by almost 12,000 people, mostly Canadians — urging the government to reunite the family.
Perth resident and community activist Mathew Behrens, who started the petition last January after reading about the family’s plight, notes that Trudeau is also the government’s youth minister, as well as a father. “He’s been speaking a lot about children, so he would recognize the best interests for Daksh are to be with his family.”
From Langevin, the group plans to present the same petition at Immigration Minister John McCallum’s office. An accompanying letter from Behrens cites a promise McCallum made while campaigning in the recent federal election: “On October 8, 2015, you declared: ‘Liberals are going to fix our immigration system, and make sure that families can be together, growing their communities and local economies alongside their loved ones.'”
Bajaj says she will ask that McCallum use his ministerial discretion to immediately grant a temporary resident permit for Daksh.
Sood is in India visiting his son and will return to Canada on Dec. 27. Bajaj hopes a TRP would be granted in time for the boy to be on that flight with him.
Bajaj, who speaks to her son daily, says when she told him the other day that she misses him, he replied: “Don’t you know I’m coming to Canada with father?”
“He’s getting big now.” says Bajaj. “He needs his mom for all the playing, activities and learning.” She says her husband’s parents struggle to care for the boy because of health problems. “It’s difficult for them to take him out, to take him to parks.”
She says if this latest attempt to bring him to Canada fails, she will make plans to return to India.
After the couple landed in Montreal on Jan. 28, 2013, Canada Border Service agents began questioning them about their son back home. They were given two choices: State their intention of sponsoring the child but return to India while Immigration reviewed their application, or, then and there, sign a declaration form that they would never attempt to sponsor their son.
They said they agreed to the latter under duress and confusion, following five hours of questioning.
HUGH ADAMI, OTTAWA CITIZENMore from Hugh Adami, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: December 18, 2015 | Last Updated: December 18, 2015 7:22 PM EST
Bhavna Bajaj and her supporters plan to provide Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with this photo of four-year-old Daksh Sood and his plea.
A mother and some supporters are hoping they won’t be turned away from the Prime Minister’s Office Tuesday, and if Justin Trudeau is around and agrees to meet them, all the better.
Though Bhavna Bajaj might have unrealistic expectations of how quickly the new Liberal government could move to finally allow her four-year-old son, Daksh, into Canada, she is buoyed by its efforts in settling Syrian refugees in this country. If it can do that for so many in such little time, she says a little boy who needs to be with his parents shouldn’t pose a problem.
Bajaj and her husband, Aman Sood, have been separated from Daksh, who lives with his paternal grandparents in India, for almost three years. Efforts to convince the former Conservative government to reunite the family failed.
Immigration officers at the Canadian consulate in Delhi only added to their despair. One who reviewed their application in 2014 to have Daksh admitted on humanitarian and compassionate grounds actually concluded that Daksh was better off in India, residing in an environment “culturally and linguistically familiar to him.”
This year, immigration officers at the consulate did not seem to have understood two separate visa applications filed by the parents’ lawyer. The first application was returned because it was believed the child needed a work visa instead of a temporary resident permit (TRP). The second was sent back on the grounds that the application should have been for a business visitor’s visa and not a TRP.
“It’s so frustrating,” says Bajaj.
The application for a TRP has been sent to India again. If Daksh is allowed into Canada, they will seek a permanent resident’s visa — which his parents already have under the skilled worker category — on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
The couple’s troubles with Immigration, first reported by the Citizen a year ago, stem from failing to disclose they had a young son they intended to sponsor before they arrived in Canada in January 2013. The plan was to bring Daksh to Ottawa once they were settled.
On Tuesday, Bajaj and her supporters plan to go to the Langevin Building, home of the Prime Minister’s Office. The group wants to present copies of an online petition — signed by almost 12,000 people, mostly Canadians — urging the government to reunite the family.
Perth resident and community activist Mathew Behrens, who started the petition last January after reading about the family’s plight, notes that Trudeau is also the government’s youth minister, as well as a father. “He’s been speaking a lot about children, so he would recognize the best interests for Daksh are to be with his family.”
From Langevin, the group plans to present the same petition at Immigration Minister John McCallum’s office. An accompanying letter from Behrens cites a promise McCallum made while campaigning in the recent federal election: “On October 8, 2015, you declared: ‘Liberals are going to fix our immigration system, and make sure that families can be together, growing their communities and local economies alongside their loved ones.'”
Bajaj says she will ask that McCallum use his ministerial discretion to immediately grant a temporary resident permit for Daksh.
Sood is in India visiting his son and will return to Canada on Dec. 27. Bajaj hopes a TRP would be granted in time for the boy to be on that flight with him.
Bajaj, who speaks to her son daily, says when she told him the other day that she misses him, he replied: “Don’t you know I’m coming to Canada with father?”
“He’s getting big now.” says Bajaj. “He needs his mom for all the playing, activities and learning.” She says her husband’s parents struggle to care for the boy because of health problems. “It’s difficult for them to take him out, to take him to parks.”
She says if this latest attempt to bring him to Canada fails, she will make plans to return to India.
After the couple landed in Montreal on Jan. 28, 2013, Canada Border Service agents began questioning them about their son back home. They were given two choices: State their intention of sponsoring the child but return to India while Immigration reviewed their application, or, then and there, sign a declaration form that they would never attempt to sponsor their son.
They said they agreed to the latter under duress and confusion, following five hours of questioning.
