Saint Mary's University student from Colombia now allowed to stay in Canada
A 19-year-old Colombian student living in Halifax who faced deportation over a high school job mix-up two years ago has been granted permission to stay in Canada.
Halifax lawyer Lee Cohen said Thursday the federal Immigration Department has reversed its decision to refuse Saint Mary's University student Valentina Torres Martinez a new study permit. Instead, it has issued her a permit valid until Sept. 30, 2020.
"It was just a roller-coaster of emotions. I couldn't plan for the future. I didn't know," Martinez said Thursday.
The Federal Court of Canada ruled earlier this month that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada must reconsider her case after it refused to issue her a new permit last year to study at university.
The department had initially said she was being denied because she had been in Canada without a valid study permit while attending high school at Sacred Heart School in Halifax. The federal government then said that was an error, and the real reason was that she had been working.
Cohen said they haven't been given a reason why the decision was reversed.
"Like with so many things in the immigration system, consumers of the system get decisions without knowing the reasons for them," he said. "It's frustrating when you win something and don't know why. It's devastating when you lose something and you don't know why."
Tears of joy
Martinez got the news while in a hospital waiting room with her sister. She was there for a scheduled appointment.
"Lee called me saying that he had great news," she said. Martinez put the call on speakerphone because her sister wanted to listen.
"People that were in the waiting room, they recognized me [from the CBC News story] before the call, and when we all heard about it there was a lot of commotion and happiness."
She said people in the waiting room started to applaud.
"A lady beside me started crying with us, of happiness. It just felt like a movie."
Worked 3 hours a week
Martinez said she was caring for children in an after-school program at Sacred Heart three hours a week, but had received permission from Service Canada to do so and had been issued a social insurance number.
Even after reconsidering her case following the court ruling, immigration officials again rejected her application. This week, she received another notice telling her the application to study had been rejected another time.
Cohen slammed the federal government's decision to reject his client's application to study in Canada.
"I think it's cruel, it's certainly unnecessary, it may not be legal, and it may be contemptuous of the court decision made a month or two ago, that started all of this," said Cohen.
But Martinez said she's not angry with the system that's caused her so much stress.
"I was actually in shock. I just couldn't believe what was wrong. As I said before, I thought I did things right from the start."
Decision wasn't 'on strong legal grounds'
Cohen said that his client thought she had done all she needed to do to work legally in Canada.
"Not thinking for a moment that she was violating an immigration regulation, not thinking for a moment that when she applied to extend her study permit, in an application in which she proudly said that she worked with children, that she was actually going to be digging her own grave," Cohen said on Wednesday.
Cohen believes that the original decision was reversed because it "was not on strong legal grounds."
"The fact of the matter is that, in law, there were grounds for her to be able to remain in Canada, and I believe that they just didn't look at them," he said.
Martinez said she feels "stronger and hopeful" having stayed the course. Upon graduation, she said, she may not stay in Canada. She wants to return to Colombia to work with victims of violence — in particular, child soldiers.
"I just can't describe how happy I am. I haven't had this peace of mind and heart for a while," she said.
