Mr. Speaker, in May, I asked the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration a question about our fellow citizens of Haitian origin who had tried or were trying to sponsor family members to come to Canada. That was four months after the January 12 earthquake. It has now been eight months.
I have to admit that some files have progressed. Some files, in particular, that had been initiated before the earthquake. But after the minister's answer to my question, I realized that the government did not seem prepared to temporarily broaden the definition of family member, as was done in Quebec, to include family members that do not fit within the existing definition.
I therefore asked the minister whether the government was prepared to broaden the definition of family, because at the time, it was receiving tens of thousands of dollars in sponsorship application fees—$550 per adult and $150 per child. I have several constituents who paid thousands of dollars and who are now left broke and without any family members here.
Here is an example. Before the earthquake, a woman by the name of Magali Micheline Théogène was trying to sponsor her mother. After the earthquake, she contacted the department. Government representatives encouraged her to sponsor her two sisters as well, even though they did not meet the age requirement and were over the age usually allowed. That cost her $1,100 more. Then she was told that her sisters each needed a medical exam at $200 apiece. She spent $1,500, and has just been told that her two sisters are not eligible because they do not meet the requirements, yet it was departmental officials who encouraged her to sponsor their applications.
In light of this situation, there is something my constituents of Haitian origin would like to know. Since the government did not broaden the definition of family members, but encouraged people to sponsor applications costing them thousands of dollars, applications that were then denied, can that money be refunded? Given the situation in which their relatives found themselves and still find themselves in Haiti, the $1,100 that Ms. Théogène gave the government—which really did not need it—could be a big help to her two sisters in Haiti.
Once again, I am asking the government to seriously consider reimbursing our fellow citizens of Haitian origin who submitted sponsorship applications because departmental officials encouraged them to do so even though those applications were never going to be approved. I am asking the government to reimburse these good people so that they can use the money to help their relatives still in Haiti.