Kevin arrived in Quebec at the age of 3, in 1994. At the age of 4, he was placed in a foster family by the Direction de la protection de la jeunesse (DPJ), then in a youth center until the age of 18.
What you need to know
- A former DPJ youth risks deportation after spending 30 years in Quebec.
- He will be deported from the country because he has committed crimes and is not a Canadian citizen.
- He should have had Canadian citizenship a long time ago.
Thirty years later, he faces being sent back to Haiti, a country plunged into chaos that he left as a child and with which he has no connection. “I have zero attachment to that country,” he says. “I have no family.”
Why deport him? Because he is not a Canadian citizen, he has been to prison and Canada can deport a foreigner who has committed a crime in Canada.
Case closed? Indeed, one may wonder why the federal government should allow a non-permanent resident to remain in Canada and grant him a residence permit if he has committed crimes.
But according to Me Sophie Demers, who represents him, this is not the right question to ask.
The question, she believes, is why this man who was raised here, who was for years under the responsibility of the DPJ, did not become a Canadian citizen. Because if that had been the case, he could not be threatened with deportation.
“Non-permanent residents have a social contract with the state,” says M.e Demers: They have to follow the rules to stay in Canada. What is happening here is that it is the state that did not respect its social contract with my client when he was a child. His status was not renewed and he was abused while he was under the aegis of youth protection.
“If the steps had been taken in time, as responsible parents usually do, he could have had citizenship before he became an adult,” she adds.
Drugs and crime
Kevin is not the kind of immigrant who will attract sympathy, his lawyer acknowledges. He has committed crimes and used drugs.
Ironically, he was once Canadian. His uncle, who holds citizenship, brought him to the country by pretending to be his father, which automatically gave him citizenship, until the authorities noticed and took away his status.
According to the DPJ documents consulted by Me Demers, Kevin suffered abuse at a very young age which led the organization to remove him from his family environment.
His journey under the responsibility of the DPJ was not peaceful either. He was the victim of sexual assault in a foster family, events corroborated by his file.
Kevin only obtained permanent residency in 2008, at the age of 16, at a time when, in an ideal world, he would have been a citizen for a long time.
He lost that status in 2012 after being charged and convicted of robbery and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
Then, in 2018 and 2019, he was charged with robbery, possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking and possession of a prohibited firearm. He remained behind bars from 2019 to 2023, before being held preventively by the Canada Border Services Agency in anticipation of his removal.
Since July, equipped with an electronic bracelet, he has been in a halfway house in Montreal.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” he admits. “I hope to stay here because I’m doing everything I can to show that the government is a little bit wrong. I want them to give me my last chance.”
Bill
There is indeed a sort of legal vacuum in the system for welcoming young immigrants, where an organization like the DPJ, which had the mandate to ensure the well-being of children, did not ensure that the normal process for obtaining citizenship was carried out in accordance with the rules.
Kevin is clearly not alone in this situation. A Senate bill, S-235, was introduced in 2023 to address this anomaly. It aims to amend the Citizenship Act so that certain people obtain Canadian citizenship when they leave the care of a youth protection agency.
“This bill aims to recognize the failures of the State, which has not taken care of these children as the parents would have taken care of them,” explains Mr.e Coline Bellefleur, specialized in immigration.
These children in the DPJ can spend many years without citizenship applications being made for them.
Me Coline Bellefleur, specialized in immigration
“When they reach adulthood, with the difficulties of transition, when they leave child protection services and find themselves with nothing, there can be criminality issues, and since they are not Canadian citizens, they are at risk of being inadmissible and being sent back,” she adds.
Two public interest policies
While waiting for the law to be passed, two public interest policies have been implemented by the federal government.
The first aims to grant permanent residency to foreign nationals, like Kevin, who arrived in the country as minors and were placed in child protection for at least a year.
It is in effect in all provinces except Quebec. “We don’t know why,” says Me Demers. It just says that it doesn’t apply to Quebec.”
The second, in force throughout Canada, which can be described as an emergency mechanism, allows these people to obtain a temporary residence permit.
The problem is that Kevin, this time, finds himself caught in the cracks of the immigration bureaucracy.
Her lawyer, who cannot rely on the first public interest policy allowing the granting of permanent residence because it does not apply to Quebec, filed an application for a permit under the second program in June.
But the response from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is slow in coming, and time is running out, as the removal is scheduled to take place on September 3.
Me Demers attempted another procedure in August, requesting a new risk assessment before removal.
If this application is rejected by IRCC, Kevin will be deported as planned. If it is granted or the decision has not yet been made, the removal will be temporarily cancelled.
“Hope is tenuous,” confides M.e Demers: This is just the beginning because everything depends on the risk assessment before return.”
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