A Quebec woman who has been waiting for her husband to come to the country through a sponsorship program for more than a year is considering leaving Quebec after coming to terms with an abortion and not wanting to raise her child alone during his child’s processing period The file continues to grow.
Laurianne Lachapelle explains in an interview with TVA Nouvelles that after marrying a Guatemalan in January 2022, she submitted an application under the sponsorship program for a spouse or life partner living in the foreign country in August of the same year.
The period initially estimated at 13 months was extended a year later to at least 24 months.
According to the Journal de Montréal in July, nearly 37,000 sponsorship applications previously approved by Quebec are awaiting processing, while the approval target is about 10,600 per year.
“We are torn,” she claims. It’s not just about the numbers, it’s the people behind it and it’s heartbreaking. The moments of life cannot be experienced together. There are mothers who cannot experience their children’s childhood and I find that unacceptable.”
Having recently become pregnant and facing the long delays announced, Ms Lachapelle made the difficult decision to have an abortion as she did not want to raise her child alone.
“It wasn’t my decision because if my husband had had the opportunity to come to Quebec, we would have started our family now,” she said. I couldn’t imagine getting through my pregnancy alone. This is something we want to experience together. I still think about it every day and it hurts me. Those were two terrible decisions I had.”
When asked about the immigration delays during question time on September 20 by the MP for Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, the Minister of Immigration, Francisification and Integration, Christine Fréchette, replied that there is currently a parliamentary Commission on this topic is underway other things, this topic.
“During the period from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2023, more than 24% of immigrants admitted to Quebec were dependent on family reunification. As of June 30, 2023, the number of admissions in the family reunification category was 6,853 people, which corresponds to 66% of the planned range.
“I won’t comment on individual cases,” she adds. In government we also pay attention to the globality of issues, the globality of situations, and that is why the numbers are important.”
For Ms Lachapelle, the minister’s reaction came as a “shock”.
“I felt there was a lack of humanity,” she shares. I’m a numbers girl. I just want to say that the government’s numbers are abysmal. 6,500 applications were accepted, meaning only 15% of all applications received permanent residency in Quebec.
“The rest are families torn apart,” she continues. They are 85% human and 85% failures.”
If nothing changes, Laurianne Lachapelle would resign herself to leaving Quebec and could potentially move to Ontario.
“I really want to stay in Quebec,” she says. I want to live my life in Quebec so badly, I want to live here so much with all my heart. If things don’t change, I will have to go through heartbreak, and I will because my family is the most important thing to me.”
In July, the minister’s office told the Journal de Montréal that it was working “in close collaboration” with the federal government on possible solutions that would allow these delays to be quickly reduced.
The minister’s office did not respond to our questions about the progress of these discussions and the status of the deadlines.