Woman faces deportation 18 years after arriving to Canada as a child

[Ryan Strome]

Meanwhile people can illegally walk across the border and excessively put a burden on tax payers.

 

TORONTO -- A 30-year-old woman, who was brought to Toronto when she was a little girl, is facing deportation to France after federal officials learned she was living in Canada without immigration status for 18 years.

Laura Emmanuelle Souchet, a samba dancer who now owns her own cleaning business, said she came to Canada with her mother at the age of 12 to take care of her grandmother, who suffered a severe stroke.

 

She told CTV News Toronto that in 2002, an immigration consultant told them if they wanted to stay in Canada, they would need to apply as refugees, a notion that even puzzled Souchet as a young girl seeing as France was a safe country.

 

But the family trusted the consultant to know the Canadian system better than they did, and they handed over their payment, Souchet said. When the application was rejected and a deportation order was issued, the consultant advised them to go under the federal government's radar and wait for amnesty.

“I was hoping [it would work out], but I realized she was feeding me a dream that wasn’t a reality,” Souchet said on Thursday. “She was charming and convincing as if she had our best interest at heart … I was later told that she’s known for doing this kind of stuff.”

For 18 years since then, Souchet said she has lived in fear, scared that at any moment officers with the Canada Border Services Agency would come to her home, and tear her away from her friends and the life she built here in Canada.

 

She said that even in situations when she has felt afraid for her safety, she has not contacted police due to her fear.

“It was like living with a ton of bricks on your shoulder for 18 years,” she said.

This past November, she decided that she needed to find help. She contacted a well-known Toronto lawyer, Graciela Flores Mendez, who took up her case, and helped her apply for permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Her application listed her address, and she said that last week officers with CBSA came to her home, detained her for two days and then on Wednesday gave her a deportation order for Saturday.

“I feel like my biggest fear has come true, I was trying to do the right thing and it might cost me my life in Canada,” she said. “Imagine living here since 12 and then someone coming and telling you that you have to leave, ripping you from your country, Canada is my county, in France I have nothing.”

Mendez, a lawyer with Jackman Nazami and Associates in Toronto, said a judge will hear her client’s case on Friday in federal court at 9:30 a.m.

Mendez said they will try to have the deportation suspended so a decision can be made on the humanitarian and compassionate application.

“It’s a very tragic case and stands against everything Canada is supposed to stand for ... she is making what is supposed to be the so-called proper way to do things and is being punished for it,” she said.

CTV News Toronto reached out to CBSA for comment, but has not received a response yet. 

Souchet completed public school in Toronto, but when she was accepted into university, she was unable to attend because she did not have a SIN card and other ID necessary to study at the institution.

She said at the age of 18, she started a cleaning business and paid taxes to the Canadian government using an individual tax number, which allows non-residents to contribute to the Canada Revenue Agency.

“I wanted to do the right thing, I wanted to give back,” Souchet said. “My only dream ever since I was a child, my only wish was to become a Canadian citizen, who I am as a person is Canadian.”

She said resettling in France would be very difficult because of her lack of formal French education and employment experience there.

She said images of the immigration consultant still haunt her some days, the blond-haired woman sitting behind a desk. “It’s a memory I could never get out of my mind,” she said.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/woman-faces-deportation-18-years-after-arriving-to-canada-as-a-child-1.4770897

[-AJ-]

Reminds me of that story of Pettersson's friends.

[A.A.A]

Immigration consultants are a joke.

 

I might be biased as my hubby is in immigration, but whole industry needs a major overhaul. I've heard countless heartbreaking stories of people being taken advantage of, encouraged to do unlawful things and pay ungodly amounts of money in order to deal with their immigration issues.

 

How they aren't better regulated is beyond me.

 

I hope this work out for this lady. She's been here for over half her life and from the article, appears to be a contributing and hardworking member of society.

[Philthy]

45 minutes ago, Ryan Strome said:

Meanwhile people can illegally walk across the border and excessively put a burden on tax payers.

 

TORONTO -- A 30-year-old woman, who was brought to Toronto when she was a little girl, is facing deportation to France after federal officials learned she was living in Canada without immigration status for 18 years.

Laura Emmanuelle Souchet, a samba dancer who now owns her own cleaning business, said she came to Canada with her mother at the age of 12 to take care of her grandmother, who suffered a severe stroke.

 

She told CTV News Toronto that in 2002, an immigration consultant told them if they wanted to stay in Canada, they would need to apply as refugees, a notion that even puzzled Souchet as a young girl seeing as France was a safe country.

 

But the family trusted the consultant to know the Canadian system better than they did, and they handed over their payment, Souchet said. When the application was rejected and a deportation order was issued, the consultant advised them to go under the federal government's radar and wait for amnesty.

“I was hoping [it would work out], but I realized she was feeding me a dream that wasn’t a reality,” Souchet said on Thursday. “She was charming and convincing as if she had our best interest at heart … I was later told that she’s known for doing this kind of stuff.”

For 18 years since then, Souchet said she has lived in fear, scared that at any moment officers with the Canada Border Services Agency would come to her home, and tear her away from her friends and the life she built here in Canada.

 

She said that even in situations when she has felt afraid for her safety, she has not contacted police due to her fear.

“It was like living with a ton of bricks on your shoulder for 18 years,” she said.

This past November, she decided that she needed to find help. She contacted a well-known Toronto lawyer, Graciela Flores Mendez, who took up her case, and helped her apply for permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Her application listed her address, and she said that last week officers with CBSA came to her home, detained her for two days and then on Wednesday gave her a deportation order for Saturday.

“I feel like my biggest fear has come true, I was trying to do the right thing and it might cost me my life in Canada,” she said. “Imagine living here since 12 and then someone coming and telling you that you have to leave, ripping you from your country, Canada is my county, in France I have nothing.”

Mendez, a lawyer with Jackman Nazami and Associates in Toronto, said a judge will hear her client’s case on Friday in federal court at 9:30 a.m.

Mendez said they will try to have the deportation suspended so a decision can be made on the humanitarian and compassionate application.

“It’s a very tragic case and stands against everything Canada is supposed to stand for ... she is making what is supposed to be the so-called proper way to do things and is being punished for it,” she said.

CTV News Toronto reached out to CBSA for comment, but has not received a response yet. 

Souchet completed public school in Toronto, but when she was accepted into university, she was unable to attend because she did not have a SIN card and other ID necessary to study at the institution.

She said at the age of 18, she started a cleaning business and paid taxes to the Canadian government using an individual tax number, which allows non-residents to contribute to the Canada Revenue Agency.

“I wanted to do the right thing, I wanted to give back,” Souchet said. “My only dream ever since I was a child, my only wish was to become a Canadian citizen, who I am as a person is Canadian.”

She said resettling in France would be very difficult because of her lack of formal French education and employment experience there.

She said images of the immigration consultant still haunt her some days, the blond-haired woman sitting behind a desk. “It’s a memory I could never get out of my mind,” she said.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/woman-faces-deportation-18-years-after-arriving-to-canada-as-a-child-1.4770897

I don't agree with either situation as you mentioned, either way Canada's tax payers are still paying.. 

What I do agree with is proper immigration which is being enforced here.. Canada already offers enough of a free ride to immigrate here, the least you can do is file paperwork knowing it hasn't been done. Especially being when you have a tax paying number for a small business.

It's just a friendly reminder to just because you've been a resident somewhere long enough doesn't give you the entitlement to think you're a citizen, everything has an expiry date.

 

[Ryan Strome]

5 minutes ago, Boone Jenner said:

I don't agree with either situation as you mentioned, either way Canada's tax payers are still paying.. 

What I do agree with is proper immigration which is being enforced here.. Canada already offers enough of a free ride to immigrate here, the least you can do is file paperwork knowing it hasn't been done. Especially being when you have a tax paying number for a small business.

It's just a friendly reminder to just because you've been a resident somewhere long enough doesn't give you the entitlement to think you're a citizen, everything has an expiry date.

 

Actually she owns a business and is contributing but your point is valid.

[Tortorella's Rant]

Good. There's not enough room in this country for both her and returning Jihadists. 

[bishopshodan]

I didn't know my politics at the time. Well truth be told I still don't.

 

I was a Landed Immigrant for 10 years when I first got here.Then I heard some rumours that the Reform Party could send me back. Could have just been fear mongering.

 

Anyway, I was taking my oath within that year.

 

This story made me think of those fears. But you've got to get it done .Hiding isn't a good Idea, this is an unfortunate story, bad system. 

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by bishopshodan

[Philthy]

10 minutes ago, Ryan Strome said:

Actually she owns a business and is contributing but your point is valid.

Thankfully, she'd be on the hook for a lot more if she wasn't contributing.. 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Boone Jenner

[Ryan Strome]

9 minutes ago, Tortorella's Rant said:

Good. There's not enough room in this country for both her and returning Jihadists. 

Early 2020 but possibly post of the year!

[Ryan Strome]

10 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

I didn't know my politics at the time. Well truth be told I still don't.

 

I was a Landed Immigrant for 10 years when I first got here.Then I heard some rumours that the Reform Party could send me back. Could have just been fear mongering.

 

Anyway, I was taking my oath within that year.

 

This story made me think of those fears. But you've got to get it done .Hiding isn't a good Idea, this is an unfortunate story, bad system. 

 

Reform party never governed...

[bishopshodan]

1 minute ago, Ryan Strome said:

Reform party never governed...

I know.

It was the..."if they get in, you could be in trouble" fear.

[Ryan Strome]

1 minute ago, bishopshodan said:

I know.

It was the..."if they get in, you could be in trouble" fear.

Ok gotcha.

[Sell.the.team]

its hard to feel too sorry for someone whose family clearly didnt follow the rules and is facing deportation back to a first world country. While its not her fault her parents didn't go about it the right way, people make choices in life that have consequences.

[HI5]

France ain’t so bad

[NewbieCanuckFan]

6 minutes ago, HI5 said:

France ain’t so bad

lol - deport her to Quebec.  

 

But yeah, France is hardly a 'third world country'.

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by NewbieCanuckFan

[hlinkas wrister]

22 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

I know.

It was the..."if they get in, you could be in trouble" fear.

The thought of Preston Manning being our PM was a little terrifying frankly. Thank god Stockwell rode in on his jet-ski and put those nightmares to bed.

[Squamfan]

41 minutes ago, Tortorella's Rant said:

Good. There's not enough room in this country for both her and returning Jihadists. 

there room for her but not the other group

[Down by the River]

51 minutes ago, Amaneey said:

Immigration consultants are a joke.

 

I might be biased as my hubby is in immigration, but whole industry needs a major overhaul. I've heard countless heartbreaking stories of people being taken advantage of, encouraged to do unlawful things and pay ungodly amounts of money in order to deal with their immigration issues.

 

How they aren't better regulated is beyond me.

 

I hope this work out for this lady. She's been here for over half her life and from the article, appears to be a contributing and hardworking member of society.

This is so accurate. During my undergrad I worked at an immigration law firm and it seemed like half of clients were there because a consultant got them in trouble. 

[Ghostsof1915]

Canada needs to start regulating scumbags like immigration consultants. Maybe deport them, and keep the hard working folks that contribute to society. 

[HI5]

After seeing her picture..she can stay in Canada.