Yes. It's concerning deportation of what I would call failed adoptees, people who came to Canada to be adopted and whose adoptions broke down.
In the case of Mario, his adoptive mother brought him at the same time as his younger sister; she wanted the younger sister, but she gave him up to foster care. Nobody got him citizenship. He wasn't saved by Bill C-14, and he was deported.
We're now supporting Tina DesRosiers, who came to Canada in 1984 from Brazil to be adopted at the age of nine. She went into care. I think her adoptive mother gave up on her within a couple of weeks of her coming. She was moved into 27 homes, and no one ensured that she obtained her Canadian citizenship. Now, 26 years later, with a criminal record, she's been under threat of deportation for being a so-called “drain on the system”, living on ODSP.
We do not know how many potential cases like this there are, but Tina has passed stage one. She has a receipt of approval in principle for inland processing for a permanent residency on compassionate humanitarian grounds, which is really good.
The process of applying for Canadian citizenship is incredibly complicated. Adoptees, and those from failed adoptions, have great difficulty and they need assistance. Therefore, I give you my seventh recommendation: Ensure that CIC work with Canada Border Services Agency to see that people from failed adoptions who are not Canadian citizens are not deported from Canada, and work with HRSDC and the directors of child welfare to set up procedures to assist them to obtain Canadian citizenship.
