First of all, I want to thank you, members of the committee, for coming to St. John's and allowing me the opportunity to meet with you today.
By way of introduction, my name is Gordon Sutherland. I'm the lead pastor at West End Baptist Church here in St. John's. In addition to my responsibility in the local church, I'm currently serving a three-year term as president of the board of directors of Canadian Baptist Ministries, which links together approximately 1,300 churches across the country and has missionaries serving in many countries around the world.
I'm quite proud of the work that our churches across the country do on behalf of immigrants and refugees, but it is in my role as a local pastor that I come to you this morning.
The church in which I serve is not a large one by some standards. We have on the average about 200 people in worship on Sunday morning, but in that 200 people we have 10 language groups represented. West End Baptist Church has long been involved in working with people who are new to this country. Over the years we have worked very closely with CIC as a sponsoring body to help people from a number of countries come to Canada, and we work diligently with recent arrivals to help make those necessary adjustments to life in a new land.
In April 2005 we began a journey down a new path with CIC when a man from Latvia arrived at the door of the church and asked for sanctuary. As I listened to him, I realized that he had a compelling story, and so for the past 1,088 days--and in case you're going to try to calculate that in your mind, it's eight days short of three years--Alexi Kolosov has been, and continues to be, confined to West End Baptist Church.
This relates to why you are here today, for this man is a skilled worker, but a skilled worker who has been victimized again and again. Alexi Kolosov is an experienced fisherperson with excellent skills in netmaking, which is why he is in such demand in this province. At least two companies have told us they would hire him today if they were able, because of his experience in and knowledge of European netmaking.
Alexi arrived in Canada in 1997 aboard an Icelandic fishing boat. While the boat was docked in the province for supplies, the owner of the boat went bankrupt. The crew was stranded and had to live on the boat. After 22 months on the vessel, Alexi came to shore and asked to stay. He is not someone who schemed to sneak into the country, but because of circumstances, he felt he had little to no option.
Further background to his story is that Alexi's son moved to Canada in the late 1990s and while here married a woman from Newfoundland and began a family. Unfortunately, the marriage ended; Alexi's son got into some trouble and was eventually deported, leaving behind a single mom with four children, Alexi's Canadian-born grandchildren.
Let me say I don't envy those who are the lawmakers in our land or who draw up the policies under which our country operates. It's a tough job, but when the power to decide on a person's application is left in the hands of one person and no appeal process is in place, it means some very worthy candidates are going to be unfairly treated.
Let me give you a couple of examples of the seeming disconnect between what the government says and how someone like Alexi gets treated.
In 2005, one week before Alexi was to be deported, the then minister of immigration, Joe Volpe, announced new initiatives to speed up the process of bringing grandparents to Canada in order to reunite families. That is something I can heartily applaud. Yet seven days later, the local immigration office was prepared to kick out of the country Poppa Loshia. That's what Alexi's grandchildren call him.
In 2005, one week before Alexi was to be deported, the then minister of immigration, Joe Volpe, announced that the government was prepared to spend $36 million to help these grandparents settle in Canada. Yet seven days later, the local immigration office was prepared to spend money to deport a grandparent, who would not cost the country one cent, for he had been living here for nearly 10 years and had proven that he was willing and capable of earning a living. In fact, he had not only been supporting himself, but also providing support to his daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
In the most recent proposed legislation from the current government, the rationale given—and I quote from their website—is that “Canada needs a more responsive immigration system where we reduce wait times so that families are reunited faster and skilled workers arrive sooner”. Yet the local immigration office is prepared to ignore these pressing needs and divide a family by deporting this skilled worker. Do you see the irony here?
Two of the frustrations for me in this journey with Alexi have been the attitude of superiority by the immigration officials and the policy of silence by the government. As I stated in the beginning, West End Baptist Church has been a partner with CIC over the years, and we have proven ourselves, I believe, to be good partners, yet there is an unwillingness to enter into any kind of dialogue and a blatant rejection of the idea that we might have some valid input into Alexi's case.
In February of this year, we filed for a leave for judicial review of the 2007 negative decision on Alexi's H and C application. A Federal Court judge ruled that the local immigration officer had in fact violated a number of CIC's policies, especially in terms of the best interests of the grandchildren. The negative decision on the H and C application was set aside and a new review ordered.
I know that the laws and policies are put in place to try to standardize the processing of applicants, but I wonder how many Alexi Kolosovs have been victimized. How many years and relationships have been lost by not taking into account the best interests of grandchildren? How many dollars have been lost because of a failure to take into account the skills that are needed?
In your policies and procedures, please do not strip away things like compassion and empathy. Not everyone fits perfectly into the box that we set up as a standard for admission into the country. Perhaps some of the people we want to welcome into the country as valued, contributing members of society are already here.
Alexi Kolosov has been victimized at a number of levels, and treated by immigration officials like a criminal, when all he wants to do is to use his skills to make a living and enjoy his Canadian-born grandchildren.
Thank you for listening to me today. I know you are here only for a short time, but I would like to extend to all of you the invitation, if you are able, to come to West End Baptist Church to meet Alexi and to realize there are flaws in the system that you have the power to correct.
Thank you.