Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Greetings to all members of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. Thank you for inviting me to testify before you today.
My name is Jean-Fritz Cima. I was born in Torbeck, Les Cayes, Haiti. I am 44 years old, am married and have six children.
I would like to start by giving you a brief summary of my experience in Haiti, and then I will tell you about my experience here, in Canada. Lastly, I will talk about my expectations and the expectations of my fellow Haitians who are out of status.
I spent my childhood and adolescence in southern Haiti. When I was 20, I went to live in Port-au-Prince, where I studied civil engineering. However, I worked mainly in business, which enabled me to meet the needs of my family fairly well until 2009.
In July 2009, I was kidnapped by bandits who demanded $25,000 U.S. for my release. My wife had to go into debt to have me freed. My savings vanished. From then on, I had only one thought in my head: to leave my country. However, I hesitated because of my children, who were minors, and the pleas of my wife, who wanted me to stay.
Just before the earthquake in 2010, which left more than 300,000 dead and many injured, my business began to improve, but unfortunately for me, thieves looted the warehouse where I had stored merchandise during the disaster. However, I had started to forget the idea of leaving the country, but with the looting of my goods during the disaster, the constant harassment of racketeer bandits threatening to kidnap me a second time or attack a member of my family, I decided to leave for good. From that point on, I took steps to come to Canada, a very safe country I was told, in Haiti.
I arrived in Quebec on August 8, 2012, and made a claim for refugee protection, which was rejected. I appealed, then withdrew the appeal to make an initial application on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, which was allowed by Quebec but refused by Canada. I am now making my second application on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, which is under way.
I currently have two jobs. I am a forklift driver, a job I trained for here, in Montreal. I also have a permit to drive taxis in Quebec. So far, my steps to obtain permanent residence have cost me a lot of money, about $16,000, and more in legal and immigration fees, not to mention the expenses for family obligations and providing for my needs here. I even had to borrow money from my boss to bury my 11-year-old son, who died of cholera last December. Fortunately, my 13-year-old son survived the illness. In September 2015, even though I wasn't in Haiti, bandits set fire to my house and my family lost everything.
In closing, my greatest wish is to obtain permanent residence to stay here, live here and bring my entire family so I can give all my children a place in the sun.
I must end my testimony by thanking the non-status action committee, which helps out-of-status individuals like me who want to live in Canada legally and who are waiting for one thing: the Canadian government's adoption of a global, collective and inclusive measure, as was the case in 1973 with Bill C-197, which launched opération mon pays.
Once again, thank you very much for inviting me to testify before your committee.