The parents of a Chinese immigrant are suing Ottawa over the death of their mentally ill son, who was unrepresented at his admissibility hearing and killed himself hours after he was issued a deportation order.For a dozen years, Shiming Deng’s elderly parents in Beijing have been trying to piece together what happened to the new immigrant prior to his death. They accuse Canadian officials of “intentionally or recklessly” disregarding his mental illness when processing his removal from Canada, claims the government denies.In their multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit now before the Federal Court, the family alleges Deng’s suicide was the result of stress caused by the proceedings and the negligence of officials at an Immigration and Refugee Board tribunal and the Canada Border Services Agency. “Like the Chinese saying goes, our heaven has collapsed. It’s been hell since Shiming’s death,” his father, Qianhui Deng, told the Star. “He was our only child.”Both Immigration Canada and Canada Border Services Agency declined to comment on Deng’s case. In its statement of defence, the government says it is not responsible for Deng’s death, arguing that the admissibility and deportation process was clearly explained to Deng and he chose not to retain a lawyer.The government has asked the court to dismiss the case, saying the family has failed to show there is a causal link between the admissibility hearing and his death “other than the timing.” A hearing is scheduled in spring.According to the submissions by lawyers for the federal government, Deng arrived Vancouver in August 1999 as a foreign student but sought asylum two years later, claiming he feared persecution in China as a practitioner of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned by Beijing.His immigration records indicated he was granted asylum in 2002 and later became a Canadian permanent resident.In 2004, Deng was admitted to the Foren ...
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