Canada’s border restrictions are preventing a son in New York City from seeing his elderly, sick mother in Toronto.
Ottawa relaxed travel restrictions in June for immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents. However, the federal government’s definition of immediate family does not include non-dependent children, leaving dozens of people being denied entry in the country.
Timothy Martin House is unable to travel to visit his mother. He said: “I’m not on this list. How is that possible?. That list is big. Somehow they manage to leave sons and daughters off. It’s beyond frustrating, it’s infuriating and disappointing.”
The current law demands that foreign people travelling to visit their family have to quarantine for 14 days and have to qualify for the family exemption which only applies to a spouse or common-law partner; a dependent child or grandchild; a parent or step-parent; and a guardian or “tutor”.
The founder of Advocacy for Family Reunification said that he heard from hundreds of foreigners who don’t fall under the definition of common-law.
David Poon said: “Even with the family reunification exemptions, there are still a number of people who are excluded, and that will include adult children.”
The group has launched a petition asking the federal government to expand its definition of the immediate family.
House says that his mother has been moved into long-term care, adding that she has symptoms of dementia and struggles to speak, move and interact with her children the way she used to.
Avvy Go, director of the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, describes Canada’s definition of immediate family as a “Western concept of nuclear family,” in which only spouses and younger children are included, often leaving out grown children and grandparents.
