Yes. I don't think we have specific studies to rely upon, but logically, and from what we observe anecdotally, it is very costly when there are these long family separations. Some of that is because family members are living in desperately unhealthy circumstances. We have people--children and spouses--who don't have access to proper health care. They arrive, and their health situation is much worse. If it had been dealt with early on, with the health care in Canada, the problems could have been averted.
You also deal with problems in schooling. Kids who have no schooling, or limited schooling, who arrive after several years, are behind, obviously, and that is going to cost Canadian society.
You also have the cost of the fragility of the family, because it's very difficult for families to come together after a very long separation. In particular, one thing we hear again and again from family members is that there is a lack of trust. When a child is told at the age of eight that no, you can't go be with your parents, or you can't be reunited with your dad, no matter how much we say that it's not the dad's fault, that the dad is doing everything possible to get the Canadian government to bring him or her here, the child feels abandoned by his or her father. And that relationship is difficult.
It is for spouses, too. We have many people who come to our member organizations in tears saying.... In one story I heard of, a man asked the counsellor to phone his wife and explain, because his wife did not believe him when he said he really was doing everything to bring her here.
How do you bring those relationships back together again? Well, families come, and many of them do manage to get on, but there are also stresses, and they take their toll, too.