Visas not given to relatives of Quebecer in Philippines after typhoon
A man on Quebec's Lower North Shore said despite Canada's promise to help Filipinos leave the country after the deadly typhoon in 2013, 14 members of his extended family were never able to obtain a Canadian visa.
Gary Landry said his wife's family was stranded after Typhoon Haiyan destroyed their home in the city of Tacloban in November 2013 and killed more than 6,000 people.
He said the Canadian government promised a lot at the time, but never delivered.
Shortly after the typhoon, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander told CBC Quebec City that the federal government was urging Canadians to identify their relatives in the Philippines to help expedite the visa-issuing process.
He said the department expected hundreds of visa applications from Filipinos, adding that the Philippines in general are a big country of origin for Canada, with or without the typhoon.
"We want Canadians and friends and family of those who may be affected and may have been on their way to Canada anyway, to help us identify these cases," said Alexander in 2013.
Landry responded to Alexander's comment, saying that he personally had tried to inform Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Canadian embassy in the capital city of Manila about his relatives to begin the immigration process.
Landry said he was told that those living in the Philippines would need to get to the embassy themselves to apply for a Canadian visa.
Frustrated in Blanc-Sablon
Landry moved back to his hometown of Blanc-Sablon, Que., with new wife Sheila Anne de Guzman, whom he met and married in the Philippines.
She was about to visit her family in Tacloban when Typhoon Haiyan swept through the region.
Fourteen members of his extended family, between the ages of four months and 77 years, headed to the Canadian embassy in Manila.
"We spent a fortune in Manila for them to stay and have an apartment up there, for I don't know how many months," said Landry.
Landry hoped they could get Canadian visas and fly to Blanc-Sablon, but it turned out to be a much more convoluted and arduous process that he could have imagined.
Limited contact with Immigration Canada
Landry said contact with Citizenship and Immigration Canada on the ground in Manila — and here in Canada — was limited to a web link and a voicemail service.
"We spoke to many many Filipinos and nobody got their passports to go to Canada," said Landry.
Landry said his family has since split up and had to move to different regions of the Philippines.
In an email, Citizenship and Immigration Canada said 1,600 people from the Philippines were admitted under the special measure.
This includes applications for permanent residents that had been filed before the typhoon hit.
The department does not usually comment specifically on individual cases.
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