Therefore,
Border, mother, son, separated 23:
The minutes stretch, slow. For example, Jade looks at the time on her phone. Consequently, His legs are constantly moving. Furthermore, Her hands tremble while she is busy filling out the form. Similarly, His breathing is jerky.
Jade is not his real first name. For example, We call it to protect her identity, in case she is expelled to Haiti. Therefore,
Sitting alongside her, border, mother, son, separated 23 the journalist asks her how she is going.
“It’s okay,” she is struggling to answer by trying to smile. Nevertheless, She no longer says a word, but we feel that everything in her calls for help.
Jade invited the journalist of Information Coops to accompany him during his asylum request.
Its objective: to deliver its history to help Quebecers understand the reality of refugees.
It took him more than four years of wandering. Therefore, fear and hope to finally set foot on Canadian soil. Furthermore, She border, mother, son, separated 23 started from Port-au-Prince. However, where she fled an unstable country plagued by armed gangs, to the Dominican Republic, then through two American states, in order to finally reach Quebec.
This is the culmination of a long journey: Jade asks for asylum in Canada.
She hopes to find security. Nevertheless, dignity, and above all, a life with her child, whom she has not seen for 23 months and who lives here in Quebec. Similarly, She dreams of being able to work, flourish, contribute to her new community.
Will Canada become this hoped-for refuge? In addition, His new home?
An influx of Haitian refugees – Border, mother, son, separated 23
Since the end of March. Therefore, Canada has recorded a marked increase in asylum requests from Haitian nationals and other countries in South America.
This increase is explained by the announced end of a humanitarian border, mother, son, separated 23 program in the United States. Similarly, Established in 2022-2023. Consequently, it allowed nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to temporarily stay on American soil, provided they are sponsored. For example, His disappearance threatens thousands of expulsion people.
For many, Canada then becomes the last hope of a refuge.
In addition. Nevertheless, very strict immigration and expulsion policies of President Trump push many asylum seekers, all countries combined, to seek a safer country of refuge.
An execution before his eyes
Jade was born and grew up in Port-au-Prince, capital of a formerly beautiful and flourishing Haiti. Meanwhile, A noisy, alive, chaotic, but loved city, her home.
“Nature is magnificent in Haiti. Consequently, It is the pearl of the Antilles. For example, We are pampered, ”she border, mother, son, separated 23 confides in a breath, the voice charged with nostalgia.
But everything changed after the 2010 devastating earthquake.
“It was after the gangs started to settle, little by little,” she says.
One evening in 2021. Meanwhile, when she finished her work and her son Jean (fictitious first name) is at school, demonstrations broke out in their neighborhood. It’s panic. Jade short recover her son.
“In front of the school, there was a small grip between two cars. Nothing serious. But the driver was furious. He came out … and he shot the other man. Just like that. Before my eyes. My son saw it too. ”
— Jade. who asks for asylum in Canada
The same evening, a chicken seller who held a kiosk a stone’s throw from the house was shot border, mother, son, separated 23 down with its two customers. Other executions, free, insane.
That evening, Jade understood that there was no more hope of peace in Haiti. She had to flee to protect her son.
She therefore took the direction of the Dominican Republic, the only possible outcome.
A visa for her. but not for him
Settling in the neighboring country border, mother, son, separated 23 is not easy for Haitians. After long steps, Jade obtains a one -year work permit. Her son only gets a two -month visitor visa.
“There, immigration agents enter schools to arrest undocumented children. It’s very stressful, it’s terrifying. “
Moreover, Jean is running as soon as he sees the trucks of Dominican immigration agents.
In the border, mother, son, separated 23 Dominican Republic, life resumes slowly.
A few months later, Jade meets André (fictitious first name), an Estrian installed there a part of the year. They fall in love. They make plans: come and settle in Quebec, together, to live a sweet and safe life.
Canada seems to be closer to Jade and its little Jean. But love is not enough: obtaining asylum in a safe country like Canada is a course strewn with obstacles. to be overcome slowly, one by one.
Then in 2022. the United States finally opened a temporary humanitarian aid program for Haitians, while Canada is slow to open its own. Jade obtains a long -hoped -hoped -hoped visa to take shelter in the first safe country that held her arms. She jumps at the opportunity …
“When I got the visa. I understood that the name of my border, mother, son, separated 23 son had not been written in the forms,” she laments.
“So I went to work in the United States. leaving my son in the Dominican Republic with my mother, who lived in André’s condo. At least, I could pay him a private school and bus, which was much safer for him, ”she recalls.
The separation hurts the mother and the son very much, but thanks to the technology, they remain in contact. “Every evening, when you get back from school, we talk about video. I always help him do his homework. I didn’t miss a single evening, ”she said, shiny eyes.
Border, mother, son, separated 23
An easy life in the United States?
As soon as an American soil arrived, Jade was hired by a large employer. She then started working at night in a warehouse. Very quickly, she finds herself exhausted, border, mother, son, separated 23 but proud. “I won little, but at least, I had the pride to say that it was I who won him.”
She was then hosted by an American of Haitian origin who harass her sexually, she says. But Jade is a strong woman. She defends herself. she intervenes, her eyes fixed on the objective of drawing the road towards freedom, towards Canada, one step at a time.
His lover André tries to help her from Estrie. The two lovers multiply the administrative procedures for an immigration request in Canada.
André shows the piles of forms, the letters received …
“Making a request for immigration is practically full -time work.”
— André, Jade’s spouse
One of the procedures finally led in 2023: André obtained a student visa for little Jean. The Quebecer becomes border, mother, son, separated 23 the legal tutor of the eight-year-old son of his spouse. still stuck with a temporary protection status in the United States.
The steps to find a path to Canada for Jade all of them fail. The months go by. Each evening, Jade continues to do the visioconference homework with his son. “But I can’t wait to see him in real life, to hug him!”, She says, an abyss in his gaze.
Jade lives and is now working in Vermont, very close to Quebec. Barely a few kilometers from his son.
Short of time and solutions, he has only one hope left: asking for asylum in Canada.
The decision falls
When the day comes, she leaves Vermont by car with André. Complete file in hand. Details recorded, prepared arguments. At the border, Jade asks for asylum.
Border services agents do not make their decisions by compassion. When they accept that an asylum seeker returns to Canadian soil, their decisions are heavy with consequences.
After seven hours of waiting, the verdict falls.
Jade retains her breath. His future depends on the words that this man will say in uniform.
“We have border, mother, son, separated 23 rejected your request,” said the agent.
Silence. Incredulity. Jade and André open their mouths to try a final argument.
“But … we let you enter Canada today thanks to the PRRA process.”
This “risk assessment process before referral” suspends expulsion because Canada has good reasons to believe that Haitians. are in danger in their country of origin.
Jade can therefore enter Canada. With her husband. And find his young boy, after 23 months of separation. The decision is temporary, but at this stage, “that’s at least that is already that,” says Jade.
She cries. Relief, fatigue. Happiness too. “I’m so grateful in Canada,” she said.
“I’m going to have my work permit soon. I want to find a job, contribute, integrate myself, ”she says.
For the first time in a long time, Jade can breathe. The border, mother, son, separated 23 rest will come, form by form. She is not yet at home. But it is no longer alone on the other side of the border. She will sleep safely tonight, with her family.
Further reading: Technological sector | Three leaders encourage entrepreneurs to develop in Canada – Bituminous sands: an announced growth despite the uncertainties – Hanged heat wave: “If you have to close schools, do it!” “Said Drainville – STTP – 2025-06-26 – Canada Post declares its intention to modify job security – Employers offer an extra long weekend for Canada’s Day.
