Good news for Maeng family
2011-06-09 02:57 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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omonatheydid
There are a lot of ways to describe Sung-Joo Maeng. He's a 15-year-old boy, a little brother, a beloved son, and the smile you sometimes meet when you walk into his family's Moncton store.
Federal citizenship and immigration rules describe him differently, of course, calling him "inadmissible."
But as we've all heard loud and clear over these past few days, his community begs to differ.
Begging may not be the best word for it, though, since what thousands of citizens in Moncton and far beyond its boundaries have done in the past week has been a lot more like demanding that Sung-Joo and his family be given the chance to one day be fully admitted to their ranks.
Their political leaders have been listening, and though they've been loathe to discuss a specific case publicly, have been working to reverse a policy decision by Citizenship and Immigration Canada that the Maengs must leave the country by the end of the month because of the potential health, educational and social development costs of caring for Sung-Joo, who was brain-injured in a traffic accident and has been diagnosed with autism and epilepsy.
The community rally scheduled for Sunday is still on and the Maengs aren't cancelling their airplane reservations just yet, but now the Province of New Brunswick may well have saved the Moncton family from being deported.
The family, who own The Main Stop Oriental Market on West Main Street, moved to Canada from South Korea in 2003, after Sun-Joo's accident. It was the beginning of the Canadian dream, and part of the answer to Moncton and New Brunswick's prayers, so great is the need for immigrants to offset our region's shrinking, greying population.
But then the Maengs - Sung-Joo, father Tae-Shik (Eric), mother Hee-Eun Jang (Jo), and Jung-Joo (John), 19 - were denied an extension to their temporary resident permits while a permanent residency application is still making its way through government.
After a couple days of not knowing where else to turn, 19-year-old John, who is highly fluent in English while his parents' skills are more rudimentary, turned to lawyers, government and the Times & Transcript for help.
The newspaper's first story ran last Saturday, and soon it was national news. It also became a cause that a remarkable number of Monctonians, Maritimers and Canadians in other parts of the country embraced. With the family's plight now having spawned nothing less than a widespread discussion of Canadian values, political leaders have been scrambling to right what so many have declared wrong.
Then yesterday afternoon, the province came to the rescue, leaving only the federal government to pitch in and do its part.
Times & Transcript staff members who went to talk to the family at their store yesterday afternoon were on hand when Moncton West MLA and Minister of Social Development Sue Stultz dropped by with a letter containing the good news.
Approached by a reporter at the store, Stultz was vague about the contents of the letter, citing privacy rules, and would only say, "we have been working gathering the information that they needed. We have secured that information that they need and now they can go back to the federal government knowing that they had some type of security."
At any rate, the Maeng family shared the letter's contents with the newspaper afterward.
Addressed to the Maengs and copied to federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Metro Moncton MP Robert Goguen, the letter reads, "I am pleased to advise you that the Province of New Brunswick will continue to provide your family with health, education and social services if you are accorded permanent residency status by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. As well, in the event that you are accorded temporary resident status as part of the process to attaining permanent resident status, the Province will also continue to provide these services."
It further states, "we are fully supportive of your application to reside in Canada and in Moncton in particular. Your family has contributed greatly to the social and economic fabric of our province."
The family was delighted to score this important point. Given that the federal department's objection to allowing the family to remain was based on concern it would burden New Brunswick, it might ultimately prove to have been the game-winning goal.
"This letter helps a lot," John Maeng said as he and his father both hugged Stultz. "We didn't expect to get something like this at all.
"I only talked to her on Sunday. I can't believe everything was done, because I remember anything to the government, it takes weeks, months usually," he said.
"Every day we see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was completely dark last Tuesday. It's been eight days now, and a lot of hope and public support."
Kenney says that it's the provinces, not Ottawa, that decide whether the health problems of a potential immigrant would place too great a strain on the public purse.
Kenney responded in the House of Commons to a question about the Maeng family. Under questioning by NDP health critic Don Davies, Kenney told Parliament that he cannot comment on individual cases because of privacy laws. But he did explain the medical inadmissibility provision.
"I would point out that there is in our law provision for medical inadmissibility for those who the provinces deem would represent an undue burden to our tax-funded public health care system," Kenney said.
A similar case in Quebec was resolved recently thanks to the intervention of provincial officials. A family from France who were told they could not remain in Canada because their eight-year-old handicapped daughter would be an "excessive burden" on social services, won a reprieve on humanitarian grounds in April. David Barlagne and his family have been allowed to stay in Montreal thanks to an agreement between the federal and provincial immigration departments.
The family was facing expulsion from Canada in July after Canadian immigration officials rejected Barlagne's application for permanent residency status, saying his daughter, Rachel, was deemed "medically inadmissible" because she has cerebral palsy.
Her "excessive burden" on social services would have amounted to $5,259 a year in special educational costs.
After the family held a news conference, asking Kenney to let them stay on humanitarian grounds, several federal and provincial politicians gave the family their support.
Nicole Druckman, a lawyer for the Maengs, said she's spoken with a representative for Goguen, the Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe Conservative MP, who informed her that "things are progressing nicely in Ottawa."
"Everybody is working overtime and very quickly, so things are progressing."
Druckman, along with co-counsel Jack Haller and Janet Thompson-Price, have made submissions to Ottawa so the federal government should have all the information they need on the family's case.
"The public, political and media support has been really unbelievable, and we are hoping that we will have a favourable decision soon because they realize that this is an oversight and an error. I'm hopeful that the rally on Sunday will be a celebration."
The rally for now is still scheduled since the family's fate is still ultimately in the hands of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Regarding the letter from Stultz to the Maengs, Druckman said, "it truly brought tears to my eyes. It just goes to show what a province we have, and I really think (this case) is an oversight, and I'm quite confident that we won't need court."
If Citizenship and Immigration Canada does not reverse its decision, Druckman said the issue will be taken to court, but she expects things to be resolved for the family in the next few days.
"I've gained a lot of respect for politicians in the last few days," she said. "And let's hope it stays that way."
Meanwhile, John Maeng is calling Air Canada to see if the airline will be willing to hold the reservations for up to five days before their scheduled departure, but he has renewed hope they won't have to get on the plane.
Smiling, he said the amazing support they have received has had he and his parents joking that "the community will stop the plane, go to traffic control and say, 'no, that plane can't leave.'"
Just that sort of sentiment has been expressed by some in the community in various postings to the Times & Transcript's website and social media sites.
And then again, maybe the Maengs aren't joking, John suggests. Having seen the whirlwind of activity in the past week, "I know what they (the community) are capable of doing."
Meanwhile, should they not have to leave Canada by June 30 after all, John is dreaming of celebrating Canada Day the following day.
"I would like July 1 to be a special one out of the seven we've been here for."
Source: timestranscript
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no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 01:56 pm (UTC)They need to rethink the "excessive burden" tag and what falls under it. Better yet stop using it.
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I do hope this gets fully resolved, I'm sure the rally will bring even more eyes to the issue and no one wants that.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 03:32 pm (UTC)I didn't realize that Sung-joo had been injured in a car accident. My sister was in a really bad car accident a little over a year ago and suffered some pretty significant brain damage. This could have just as easily been her, and I'm sure her healthcare costs are just as much of a "drain" on the Canadian healthcare system as Sung-joo's are. Let him stay, Canada. If only because it's the right thing to do.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 03:43 pm (UTC)Hopefully, this will end up as good news all around :)
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 04:13 pm (UTC)I really hope they will be allowed to stay, and that their permanent residency goes through successfully. C'mon home country, do the right thing!
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 07:29 pm (UTC)/randomness.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 06:46 pm (UTC)im no longer there, but i still feel a deep connection to the country because of the people...
i hope the Maeng's do get to stay...and if citizenship and immigration canada does not overturn its decision...i have faith that the court will...
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 07:00 pm (UTC)LOLS at his comment: "I only talked to her on Sunday. I can't believe everything was done, because I remember anything to the government, it takes weeks, months usually," .....but really, all governments are like that unless u've got money or the power of the people to push things along a wee bit faster, haha.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 07:24 pm (UTC)YESSS!
Date: 2011-06-09 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 10:11 pm (UTC)Then again, what can one expect when the current Prime Minister, The Devil...erm...Stephen Harper, believes in creationism... =|
no subject
Date: 2011-06-10 05:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 10:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-10 12:25 am (UTC)Nova Scotians will support them i'm sure... i'll start the NS support as well haha
no subject
Date: 2011-06-10 05:18 am (UTC)Her "excessive burden" on social services would have amounted to $5,259 a year in special educational costs.
Just to play devil's advocate on this, because their wording bugs me. It doesn't seem excessive when you're looking at one person, but you have to take into account that Canada has other people who require that same amount or more and that adds up. And many of those people will be Canadians, so they're Canada's main focus. When you're taking care of roughly 34 million people it adds up, and quick. So something as "excessive" as 5k really can be a strain, as it's 5k in addition to the 500+k (probably more like millions, but whatever) that others require.