Taline Nehmé first moved to Quebec about 20 years ago. After returning to Lebanon, she always dreamed of going back and settling in the province.
Now, settled in Quebec again and working as a nurse, she has tried desperately for more than a year to have her six-year-old daughter join her.
But her application for family reunification is taking a lot longer than anticipated. Nehmé says her daughter does not understand why she cannot be with her mother, and she says the child believes she’s been abandoned.
“Sometimes, I wonder if anyone can really imagine, if they close their eyes for a few seconds, if they can imagine their life without their partner, without their child, what they are going to feel,” said Nehmé.
“It’s the most painful feeling in life, to be separated.”
Nehmé is one of about 36,000 Quebecers who are waiting for their family reunification applications to be processed.
Where the average wait time for such applications in other provinces is about 10 to 13 months, wait times in Quebec are at least double that.
Laurianne Lachapelle is also still waiting for her application to be processed. Born and raised in Quebec, her husband lives in Guatemala and she has been trying to sponsor him so that they can live in the province together.
But she is now contemplating the idea of moving elsewhere. Her application has taken so long that she felt forced to terminate her pregnancy, fearing she’d have to raise her child on her own.
“I couldn’t imagine myself having a pregnancy, giving birth and having a child let’s say from his first day to who knows how long without my husband,” said Lachapelle.
“It’s hard every day. I see children and I want to have one, and I see my friends having children and I’m happy for them, but I know I’m not able to follow them in that process.”
While it’s up to the federal government to process the applications, it’s the province that determines the maximum number of applications that can be accepted in a given year. In the province’s current plan, that maximum is set at 10,000 people — a number Québec Solidaire says is significantly lower than other provinces, and that explains why applications take so much longer than elsewhere.
“I’m hoping that every Quebecer, and of course the CAQ government, can show some compassion, empathy, and allow their spouses and kids to be reunited with them here in Canada,” said Québec Solidaire Immigration Critic Guillaume Cliche-Rivard.
Answering a question from Cliche-Rivard in question period Tuesday, Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette said she feels empathetic to the families still waiting for their applications processed, and pointed out she has asked for the province to be given more powers over its immigration process.
Fréchette also said she would be open to making certain changes to her upcoming immigration plan, but that she is waiting to see what comes out of the ongoing public immigration consultations at the National Assembly, adding family reunification already represents about a quarter of the province’s immigrant population and she wants to maintain a balance.
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