WATCH: A B.C. family says it’s going through a bureaucratic nightmare trying to get a teenager whose parents aren’t in his life anymore brought to Canada. Nadia Stewart reports.
Vikram Sohpaul has been trying to get his 14-year-old Indian nephew Paras into Canada for years.
“I feel really bad for him. And all I want is to re-unite with my entire family,” he says.
Paras was born in 2000, but his father went missing shortly after his birth and never returned home. Paras’ mother and grandfather died in 2008, and since then only his grandmother – Vikram’s mother – has been able to care for him.
“My mother is the only one who is taking care of him – socially, mentally, psychologically–and I’m financially helping them. I’m the only source of income for my family here and for my mother and orphaned nephew Paras,” says Vikram.
Twice he’s applied to bring Paras to Canada on a visitor’s visa, but both times it was rejected. While Paras’ grandmother has been granted permanent residency, it’s irrelevant to the family unless Paras can have it as well – and that could take several more years.
Today, Vancouver-Kingsway NDP MP Don Davies brought up Vikram’s struggle in the House of Commons, but his question on Paras’ status elicited a sharp response from Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander.
“The member opposite knows very well that he does a disservice to families affected by individual cases, worried about their files, when he raises those issues before this House of Commons. We cannot talk about those issues in this place,” he said.
It leaves Vikram contemplating a return to India to take care of Paras himself.
“I can’t leave my mother with him for so long,” he says.
“I’m very attached to him, and feel like he’s my first son.”
– With files from Nadia Stewart
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