Moosomin family, community fighting deportation order

The small community of Moosomin is rallying around a family that is facing deportation.

Victor Santos and his wife, Lesi, along with their two sons settled in the community two years ago. He works at the Denray Tire store and she works at the Borderland Co-op.

The family came to Canada seven years ago after Santos witnessed the murder of a journalist in his home country of Honduras and believed he would be killed if he returned.

But his refugee request, that was filed in 2011, has been denied for failing to provide enough evidence of the threat.

Area MP Robert Kitchen, local church leaders and Moosomin resident Russell Slugoski are all hoping to intervene and urged the federal government to reconsider.

Some of the photocopies, required on certain size paper for Immigration Canada files, cut off some of the police and witness signatures. Santos’ supporters believe that is a simple mistake.

“It seems as though once something is in the process and it goes through there’s no backtracking, you can’t reverse anything that has happened and try to correct or justify it,” Slugoski told John Gormley. “The arguments and the substantiation and documentation that Victor can provide do not seem to satisfy the authorities.”

There are no more appeals and the family has been order to leave July 5 once the children finish school.

As minister responsible for Canada Border Services Agency, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale does have the power to stay the removal order of the Santos family. That power, however, is rarely used given the rules-based system that exists to determine eligibility in Canada.

Goodale’s office will not comment on specific cases but it is believed Kitchen has approached Goodale about the case on the floor of the House of Commons.