Opinion

Canada, Immigration, and Autism: Part Two

Last week we  told the story of 17-year-old Lewis Crowe.  Because he has autism the Canadian Government has banned Lewis from living in Canada and in order to visit the country he needs special permission from the immigration department. The Canadian Government regularly uses the excuse that allowing entry to families of children with special needs will cause financial burden on the health system. The question that needs to be asked is is it fair? Where do we draw the line? If someone has severe allergies will they be denied access? What about someone who had cancer? or just a history minor infections? In case you thought this may be the exception to the rule we bring you another story of a family who has been denied entry into Canada because their child has special needs.

Robi's Story

Six years ago in May 2005, my family moved from Rindge, New Hampshire to Livonia, Michigan. Why did we decide to move? The company my husband works for was growing and had decided to open a new manufacturing facility in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and he was selected to be a vital part of that facility. We agreed that we would live on the US side of the border and that he would cross daily as he had heard others do this easily enough. We mainly based this decision on the fact we wanted to stay in America so as to make the adjustment as easy as possible for our children. But working in one country while living in another has proven to have many challenges, we continued to meet these challenges and our 3 children are currently thriving here in Michigan. However there are rules about working in Canada as a non-Resident and one of them is after five years you must apply for permanent residency or discontinue working in Canada for a year. So about two years ago (in July 2009) we began the in depth process of applying for permanent residency. Every aspect of my background and my husband’s was scrutinized, from civil and criminal background checks to financial and credit checks. We had passed all hurdles and things were going extremely well until we got to the final stage which included family physicals. Why would this be an issue? My oldest child has a diagnosis of Asperger’s (diagnosed in May 2010, during our application process). Not too big of a deal right? After our family physicals were completed we received a letter from the Canadian Consulate requesting more information about Robi, specifically from his doctor about his diagnosis and his principal/school about his educational requirements. We provided this information right away and it was back to waiting for the residency application to be approved, because why would it be denied? So – we waited to hear from Canada. Finally after several months my husband received a letter from the Canadian consulate telling us that we will most likely get denied residency due to our son’s diagnosis of infantile Autism. As it would be too expensive to educate him due to the special services he would need in school.  We were shocked. It never even crossed our minds that Robi’s diagnosis would affect our chances for residency. As we were given 2 months to gather “further documentation” we are now racing to acquire new evaluations and documents from people involved in Robi’s life that can state how much he has improved this year and that we will be homeschooling Robi so that he will not require any special Canadian services. Paperwork that will also include financial statements that will state we will not require Canada to “cover the costs of our child’s education requirements”. I don’t know what lies in the weeks or months ahead in regards to my husband’s work status and our Canadian residency application status, but I do know that my son is an amazing young man who has the gift of Asperger’s and I wouldn’t change him for anything. I love him for who he is.

The Bottom Line

There is  a Jewish Saying that goes like this: If someone says, "I have worked hard, and I have not been successful," don't believe him. If someone says, "I have not worked hard and I have been successful," don't believe him. If someone says, "I have worked hard, and I have been successful," believe him!!! This may sound naive but the Canadian government needs to do a better job of trying to find ways to allow residency to families who have special needs. If they try they will succeed!