Woman ordered deported on 4 days notice given temporary resident permit

After being given just four days notice that she'd be deported, Tina Yazdani spoke to the woman who received a surprising result from court, keeping her in the city she's called home for 18 years.

By Michael Talbot and Pam Seatle

A Toronto woman ordered deported to France on four days notice will be allowed to stay in Canada after the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship intervened and issued her a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP), her attorney tells CityNews.

“It’s a miracle,” Laura Souchet, 30, said after hearing the news. “I have no words to describe the feeling. I can’t believe it, I’m so happy.”

Souchet, 30, was issued a deportation order by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on Tuesday, and was told she had to leave the country by Saturday.

She appeared in federal court on Friday, where her lawyer, Barbara Jackman, asked a judge to stay her removal order until an application for residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds could be processed.

Jackman’s office says the Ministry’s intervention has now resolved the issue.

“This means that the stay motion we argued this morning is now moot as Laura is now permitted to remain in the country,” Jackman and Associates told CityNews in an email Friday afternoon, just hours after the tense court hearing.

“A TRP is a document that authorizes a person who is inadmissible or does not meet the requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or Regulations, either as a temporary resident or as a permanent resident, to enter or remain in Canada,” the law firm explained.

Souchet told CityNews her legal quandary began when she came to Canada from France with her mother when she was just 12 years old.

She says upon arrival in Canada they received ill advice from an immigration consultant.

They could have been sponsored by her grandmother who was a Canadian citizen, but she says the consultant urged them to instead apply for refugee status, which was denied.

A removal order was issued back in 2006, but Souchet say on the advice of their consultant it was ignored. Because of that, when she applied for permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds in November, her case was flagged.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), which enforces deportation orders, knocked on her door earlier this month and Souchet spent two days in custody.

“I felt dirty, like a criminal,” she said of her detention. “It wasn’t my fault to begin with, I was a child, this happened to me and I’m trying to fix it.”

On Tuesday, the CBSA said she had to pack up and leave the country by Saturday — just four days later.

She will now be allowed to stay in Toronto, where she runs a cleaning business.

“As you can imagine, we are thrilled with the Minister’s intervention,” her legal team added. “This is a fair result for a Canadian “dreamer” like Laura who came into this country as a child and made it her home.

“We stand firm in our belief that Canada needs to create a policy or law that provides a path to regularization for children who were brought into this country and have subsequently not only established roots in Canada, but have contributed to our society as a whole.”

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