as
you calmly drive your daily commute from work to home you notice a police
checkpoint in the distance and begin to slow. Rolling to a stop you lower the
driver’s window, nod to the officer approaching your vehicle, and reach for
your license. Nothing to worry about, after all it's just a routine stop and
these are the good guys right?
Suddenly
you are told to step out of your vehicle and place your hands on the roof. You
are quickly handcuffed and hustled into the back of a patrol car by uniformed
officers. Speeding through the streets, these men whisk you away to a local
police station where your nightmare truly begins.
Seated
in a stark interrogation room, a confession for car theft is pushed before your
face. You are told not to read it, but to sign it. You are also told by the
authorities that they have your wife and children and if you don’t sign it,
your family will suffer the consequences.
You
sign the papers they put before you. What choice do you have?
Can
this nightmare really be happening?
according
to alexi Portnoy that’s exactly what did happen. What’s more, he served 8
months in an Israeli prison on the charge. Now years later he, his wife and
their four children who live in Marystown Newfoundland are being uprooted from
their adopted home and deported from Canada because of it.
Now,
because he signed that confession, it looks like alexi Portnoy's wife and
children are being made to suffer the consequences by authorities in this
Country.
according
to the Department of Immigration, Mr. Portnoy’s criminal record precludes him
from obtaining Canadian citizenship even though he has been a model citizen
since moving to Canada years ago.
On
the surface, denying people with a criminal record a place in Canada would seem
like the sensible thing to do, but like any policy, one size doesn’t fit all.
Sometimes other factors need to be considered and this is where our current
immigration system completely breaks down.
after
being allowed to enter the country, Mr. Portnoy and his wife have settled down
and had two children, for a total of four. They have become a part of the local
community they now call home. Now, after years of waiting for the painfully
slow wheels of government to review their case, the answer is not what they
wanted to hear. Simply put, they do not want to leave and nobody who knows them
want them to leave either.
When
denied citizenship and on being confronted with his arrest record Mr. Portnoy
outlined the nightmare scenario above. Is this really the way things happened?
Perhaps it was, or perhaps it wasn’t. Even if you doubt Mr. Portnoy’s
explanation of the circumstances surrounding his arrest, even if he did indeed
steal a car in his younger days, does this single act give the Canadian
government the right to make him, and more importantly his wife and children,
pay the consequences?
according
to the people of Marystown Newfoundland the answer is a resounding NO.
The
people of the town have rallied around the Portnoy family and even the mayor of
the community is doing everything possible to pressure government for an
extension to the deportation order. The hope is that the family can gain a fair
hearing in the case.
The
family has now been given asylum in the basement of a local Catholic church and
members of the community are helping them in any way they can.
Why
is the town being so supportive? Why is this case tugging at the heartstrings
of the local community?
according
to all reports, the Portnoys have been law abiding and contributing members of
local society for years. alexi Portnoy has been a model citizen who has never
broken the law in Canada and was gainfully employed until being forced to seek
refuge from authorities. Two of their four children were born in Canada. These
children are Canadian citizens, yet if the family is deported, they to will be forced
to go to Israel.
What
will happen to them if the family is deported? One of the children suffers from
cystic fibrosis, what will happen to her? What kind of medical care will she
receive?
add
to all of this the fact that the mayor of Marystown has now received a fax from
Israel containing the results of a police background check on alexi Portnoy.
according to this document, Mr. Portnoy is now listed as having no criminal
record in that country.
Newfoundland
and Labrador Liberal MHa Bill Matthews has spoken with the Minister of
Immigration and with the Deputy Prime Minister. according to Mr. Matthews, the
Minister refuses to entertain the idea of invoking his Ministerial Discretion
in the case. Doing so might allow this family the time they need to appeal the
deportation ruling and perhaps find a way to remain in the Country. Ottawa is
turning a deaf ear.
Ministerial
Discretion is a mainstay of the Canadian democratic system. This power allows
Ministers to overrule departmental decisions when they feel the decision is a
mistake or if they feel a decision is unjust. This power is meant to ensure
that government control remains in the hands of elected officials rather than
unelected bureaucrats.
according
to reports, the Minister is refusing to delay the deportation order even in
light of the new evidence on Mr. Portnoy’s background.
Many
have commented on what seems to be a rather uneven and contradictory approach
in this case in light of the fact that at the same time government is refusing
to make an exception for the Portnoys, they did exactly that for television
diva Martha Stewart.
Stewart,
who because of her criminal record had been denied access to attend a festival
in Nova Scotia, had her ruling overturned last week as soon as it came to government
attention. The decision was made and Ms. Stewart was informed that she would be
allowed in the Country all in a matter of hours. although she ultimately did
not make the festival due to bad weather conditions in Maine, Ms. Stewart was
granted the right to do so without even having to argue her case.
Is
this a matter of one rule for the rich and one for the poor? If alexi Portnoy
and his family were media superstars would they be hiding in a church basement
praying for asylum? Would they be wondering what their future held? Would they
be wondering about the future of their sick child and what impact the current
stress may be having on her illness, or would they be sipping champagne in an
airport lounge on their way to some media event?
Would
the Minister of Immigration or the Prime Minister himself be so quick to
dismiss this case if it was happening to a high profile family in Ottawa or
Toronto rather than a working class one in small town Newfoundland? Many are
pondering these questions and wondering what the country has come to when our
leaders can take the international stage and speak of our nation's great record
of human rights, compassion for the down trodden and care for the
underprivileged while allowing a poor hard working family to be kicked out of
the country they love.
The Portnoys, the town of Marystown and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are not asking the government of Canada to immediately grant citizenship in this case. They are simply asking for more time. Time that would allow this family to plead its case and for the due process of law to take its course, due process that to date has been denied the Portnoy family.
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