“I’m just happy, I have no words, I’m so moved,” said Rose Eva on Saturday at Montreal-Trudeau airport, before bursting into tears. Her arrival marks the culmination of a three-year battle for this Quebec graduate to return to her adopted province.
It is the end of a painful migratory journey for the young Rose Eva, this Cameroonian student who had been expelled from Quebec in 2020 due to an administrative error, raising a wave of mobilization in her favor.
On Saturday afternoon, the young woman, now 26, was greeted with great emotion by her family and friends at Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport in Montreal. Three years earlier, she left the same airport, tears in her eyes, assuring that it was only “a goodbye”.
Rose Eva’s story would not have ended so well without the involvement of Bloc Québécois MPs, she says. Rhéal Fortin, Bloc Québécois MP for the riding of Rivière-du-Nord, watched her arrive with tears in her eyes. At his side, the Bloc Québécois critic for immigration, refugees and citizenship, Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, came for the occasion.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Rhéal Fortin, Bloc Québécois MNA for Rivière-du-Nord, welcoming Rose Eva at the airport
“It was a long journey, but the outcome is happy, rejoiced Rose Eva. What I remember is that I was accompanied, I was not left alone, ”she added, giving small gifts brought back from Cameroon to the politicians on the spot.
“I feel liberated, lightened,” added her older sister, Fernande Messina, who lives in Saint-Jérôme, in the Laurentians. I can finally turn the page. »
Expelled for working
Rose Eva’s setbacks date back to 2020.
Three years earlier, the young woman had arrived in the province with a study permit. Already holding a master’s degree in finance from the University of Yaoundé, Cameroon, she had completed a technique in computer programming at the Teccart Institute in Montreal.
Thanks to her good academic results, she had finished her technique a few months before the expiry of her study permit, which allowed her to work part-time. She had then continued to work a few hours a week in a clothing store before applying for permanent residence.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Rose Eva with her family and friends, as well as Bloc MPs who worked for her return to Quebec
What she didn’t know was that she no longer had the right to work.
A mistake that earned him to be detained and expelled from the country, despite the media coverage of his story, numerous job offers and the intervention of his family and Bloc MPs.
“We treated her like a criminal, still denounces Fernande Messina today. It was humiliating. And she still feels at fault. I’m the one telling him not to lower his head. »
“We would have caught her selling drugs that it would have been the same thing, adds Mr. Fortin. There was no need to penalize her, but to adjust. He was a well-integrated person, who studied here, who works here and who speaks French. »
“It’s a flagrant lack of empathy on the part of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)”, also believes Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, describing a “dysfunctional” department that lacks humanity.
Make things happen
A month after the expulsion of Rose Eva, in January 2020, the law concerning foreign students has been updated. Students can now continue to work at the end of their studies, as long as they apply for a post-graduation permit.
In the same period, IRCC was singled out for its disproportionate discrimination against French-speaking African students. In the fall of 2022, the federal government has also committed to reviewing the process to increase their approval rate.
But for Rose Eva, the damage was done. In Cameroon, she was stigmatized for having been “expelled” from Canada, says her sister, a word “heavy with meaning”, according to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.
It was also the beginning of a long process to allow the young woman to return to the country. “We experienced emotions on a roller coaster, it was super long, trying, and there were obstacles all the time”, testifies Fernande Messina. And without the assistance of the Bloc [québécois], his file would have been drowned somewhere. »
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Rose Eva upon her arrival at Montréal-Trudeau airport, Québec flag in hand
“For a found Rose Eva, how many people do we lose? [dans le processus migratoire] ? “, also wonders Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe.
The young woman is back for good, having obtained her permanent residence. His dream: to work in his field, anywhere, as long as it’s in the province. “I was adopted by Quebec,” she says. I’m coming back to live at home, actually. »