Saskatchewan family vows to fight on after living in ‘limbo’ for last three years

Watch the video above: A Saskatoon family trying to bring their Pakistani son to Canada is frustrated with the adoption and immigration process.

SASKATOON – For the last three years, Waheeda Afridi has been living in limbo.

She and her husband Ashfaq Afridi, had been trying to conceive a child of their own for more than a decade, but to no avail. So they opted for adoption.

Waheeda soon learned that her sister in Pakistan had been left widowed and was now pregnant with her seventh child. The Afridi’s stepped forward and offered to adopt the child, since his birth mother was unable to afford the cost of feeding another mouth.

Three years after his birth, the boy has yet to set foot on Canadian soil.

“I don’t know how much longer we will have to wait. Does anybody have an answer for us?” asked Waheeda in a phone interview with Global News.

She had been living in a basement in Peshawar, Pakistan with her son. The area has been rife with violence and political instability.

Fearing the worst, she fled the city and has been living in Ankara, Turkey on a temporary visa. It is slated to expire in just three weeks.

“They have put us in jeopardy. They have put us in limbo. I’m very ill. I need treatment and I’m not abandoning my child nowhere,” she said.

“The Government of Saskatchewan social services – I’m very upset with them. I’m so frustrated. I never imagined they would treat a child – a family – like this.”

Waheeda and her husband – who are both Canadian citizens – have applied for temporary residency for their son, but were rejected.

In the letter of refusal, the federal government says it has yet to receive a letter of non-objection from the province. They consider it a necessary document in the immigration process.

In response to a Global News inquiry into the matter, the province said “Pakistan does not have adoption orders or adoption processes. They have guardianship orders, which are not recognized under adoption legislation.”

The statement went on to say: “Our government fully supports little Ajjab moving to Saskatchewan with his aunt and uncle. We have made this support clear to the federal government through numerous letters and in meetings with officials and federal ministers.”

“Our government has done everything we can to support this child coming to Canada, but ultimately the authority to allow this child into Canada rests with the federal government,” it concluded.

Saskatoon-Humboldt MP Brad Trost told Global News that while he cannot speak for the federal immigration minister or the department, he and his team have been looking for different ways to approach the situation, including different types of visas.

“If the province was more clear about finding a way to work around their adoption moratorium that they’ve put in place and the legislation they’ve refused to change now for two years, it could help us and make things considerably easier for us,” he said on the phone from Ottawa.

“The letter of non-objection would be absolute gold. A letter of support is a piece of paper.”

The family’s attorney, Haidah Amirzadeh, remains adamant the main priority should be to reunite the family.

“The federal department can simply issue a temporary residence visa, which they give to thousands of people around the world to come to Canada as a tourist.”