Beatriz Adriana Mora Manriquez is happy Ottawa is reviewing its policy that bans people with disabilities and excessive health needs from immigrating to Canada.The Mexican migrant says time is running out for her husband, Sergio Soberano Osorio, however. Soberano is suffering from renal failure and needs to get on the kidney transplant wait list as soon as possible.The Toronto couple has applied for permanent resident status on humanitarian and compassionate grounds and has been waiting almost four years for a decision. Without permanent residency, Soberano is not eligible to get on the transplant list — even though his wife’s sister is willing to donate one of her kidneys if she’s a match.The irony is that the processing of their case has been delayed because officials are waiting for the changes to the policy to be finalized, according to an email to the couple’s lawyer from the office of their MP — who happens to be Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen.Hussen has said the current policy must change. “It’s simply not in line with our government’s policies with respect to moving toward an accessibility agenda, (and) how Canadians are increasingly of the opinion that we should be more inclusive as a society,” he told the parliamentary immigration committee last year.“Sergio is living on borrowed time because of his medical condition. He has no time to wait for the (policy) changes to take its course,” the couple’s immigration lawyer, Patricia Wells, told the Star.“We applaud the immigration minister for wanting to change the policy so there’s no more discrimination because of medical inadmissibility, but it’s ironic because of the delays, it’s causing more suffering for Sergio.”Mora, 38, and Soberano, 33, arrived in Canada to visit her family in June 2008 and stayed in the country. Their daughter, Fernanda, 5, and son Sergio, 2, were born here. Mora works as an off ...
|
