The refused file of Félix Devismes, a French father caught in the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of the Quebec immigration system, is the responsibility of the politician. This is what Québec solidaire claims, which urges the Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, to change the “unreasonable demands” of her ministry on the administrative level.
Last January, the 33-year-old man, married to a Quebecer, was refused his Quebec selection certificate (CSQ) in particular for having submitted documents in black and white, instead of in color, and for having failed to provide certain evidence that was impossible to find. In the process, this new Quebecer, who works for a cheese factory in Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, lost his work permit and has been stuck at home for more than a month.
“Does the minister know that we are losing badly needed immigration candidates because a document is not in color? » asked Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, solidarity deputy for Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, who sent a letter to Christine Fréchette including The duty got a copy. “I ask the question because the aim of my approach is to inform him. »
According to him, Mme Fréchette has a duty to intervene. “When manifestly unreasonable and inappropriate immigration procedures deprive us of a Francophone established in an industry like his, it becomes political,” he says. “In Quebec currently, we cannot afford to lose a candidate like Félix. »
Absurd demands
After eight years of living in Quebec, three Quebec diplomas and various jobs in the food and restaurant sector, Félix Devismes took steps to obtain permanent residence with the federal government. But as required by Quebec, he first had to obtain a CSQ.
In November 2023, he received an “intent to refuse” letter accompanied by a list of additional documents to provide, otherwise his application would be rejected. Despite an addition of around thirty pages, his file was closed definitively in mid-January because four documents are still “missing or were transmitted in a format different from that required”, we can read in the letter from Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI).
Félix Devismes denounces “the absence of logic” behind the requests deemed absurd by ministry officials. “My employment record was refused because it was in black and white. But I called Service Canada and they confirmed to me that it was not possible to print in color,” explained the Sillery resident, who says he went hunting for a color printer in other Service Canada offices. In vain.
He was also asked to send proof of a work permit for a given period, impossible to provide since he was at the time in transition between two companies, and a postal receipt for a post-graduation work permit obtained in 2017, which he did not keep. Finally, he was asked to provide a certificate of employment signed by hand by his employer and not electronically, a completely obsolete requirement given that the documents must now all be scanned and submitted online to a portal.
For the PQ MP for Jean-Talon, Pascal Paradis, the reasons for the refusal are similar to “technical administrative barriers rather than valid reasons”. “ [M. Devismes] today finds himself in a situation of great financial and emotional precariousness following the refusal of his CSQ request,” he lamented, adding that he is a “model of integration.”
Guillaume Cliche-Rivard deplores the “archaic” ways of doing things at MIFI and asks that the file processing process be completely revised. “Such a requirement to provide a color copy appears neither in the regulations nor in the law, and appears on its face to be unreasonable,” writes the MP in his letter to the minister.
He also asks MIFI to review its way of communicating with its customers. Currently, he says, immigration applicants are likely to receive “letters of intent to refuse” in which they are suspected of having submitted “false or misleading documents.” “I don’t think this is the first contact that a future Quebec citizen should have with their host country,” he says. MIFI scares the world. »
“Not just pieces of paper”
Mr. Devismes sees himself as the candidate who lost “the lottery” and who came across the agent “who decided to be strict and zealous.” “I don’t want to be the Che Guevara of immigration, but at some point, it has to be said that there is a problem in the system. »
For him, these administrative miseries constitute a lack of recognition towards him. “I have been here for almost eight years, I have always paid my taxes, my wife and my child are from Quebec, I am involved in rugby league, I do a job where there is a shortage… I have the impression of being a sub-citizen,” said Mr. Devismes, who deplores not having been summoned for an interview, as permitted by law, to explain himself to the MIFI.
He wanted to pack up and return to France, but his partner convinced him to fight to continue the good life they had built here. “We are determined to show the absurdity of the situation, of this system which lacks humanity and empathy,” continued the man who appealed last week against the refusal of his CSQ.
“We are not just pieces of paper, there are humans behind the file numbers. »
In the minister’s office, they say they are preparing a response to the MP’s letter. If nothing is done, Félix Devismes will have to leave the country at the end of May.