Citizenship and ImmigrationCanada February 23, 2011J. Burton, Ministerial Enquiries Division OPEN LETTER 365 Laurier Avenue WestJean Edmonds Tower SouthOttawa, OntarioK1A 1L1Dear Ms. Burton;
This is a summary of your activities as well as the “apparent” activities and actions of CIC Canada Minister Jason Kenney, and Public Safety Canada Minister Vic Toews to date, resulting in my continuing to be prevented from joining my husband Glen Kealey, a Canadian citizen in Canada.
After I was given an illegal, apparently “doctored” exclusion order at Emerson POE, I had to travel by car to Ogdensburg, New York and establish a living situation there. I arrived July 9, 2010. My first priority was to obtain RN licensure in the state of New York, (which was ongoing) as well as dealing with obtaining a Canadian visa and the exclusion issue. My husband sent the sponsorship agreement signed and dated by him August 26, 2010, by mail to me which I signed August 31, 2010 and returned to him. He sent this document along with 2 checks to CIC. This was stamped as received by CIC on September 13, 2010, and sent back to my husband along with a letter and client #63859336, asking him to get a receipt from the bank rather than any checks. The letter that stated this was dated September 17, 2010.
My husband went to the bank the same day he received this letter, which was October 1, 2010, and made the payment via the Royal Bank to CIC (receipt #B116277678) for $550.00. Attached to this receipt was a letter by my husband and dated October 3, 2010, addressed to Jason Kenney asking for a ministerial letter to override the exclusion order, AS STATED in the exclusion order given to me “… I also fully understand that I must not come into Canada without the written consent of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration at any time during the one-year period immediately following the day on which I am removed from or otherwise leave Canada.”
You, Ms. Burton, responded back to my husband with a letter stamped October, 27, 2010, that you could not respond due to the Privacy Act prohibiting “the release of information on our clients without their written consent…” and continuing to refer to me as “Ms. Jennifer Ann Nagel”, even though you had a notarized copy of the marriage certificate that I am in fact married to Glen E. P. Kealey and am legally Jennifer Ann Kealey. You sent back to my husband a form to complete and sign “Authority to Release Personal Information to a Designated Individual” As well, you wrote in the last paragraph of your letter sent to my husband… “I am also returning to you the documents which you included with your letter of October 3, 2010.” This was the second occasion on which CIC was returning our application for sponsorship, this time including the bank receipt for funds paid in full.
My husband sent me the authority release to sign, which was received by me on November 15, 2010, signed, and sent back to him on the same day. My husband received this document November 30, 2010 and immediately sent it via mail to you in Ottawa.
When my husband called CIC Mississauga in December to enquire as to the status of the file, he was told, “THERE IS NO FILE…”
We have a file # and a receipt from the Royal Bank. CIC Canada has been paid $550.00 in full.
Soon after my husband’s call in December, Ms. Burton, you called him back, stating to him that there would be an investigation into this matter. The next phone call my husband received around December 10th was from a Bill Spanjer who identified himself as a superintendent assigned to the Emerson POE, stating he had been assigned the task of investigating the events that had led to my receiving the exclusion order. The only thing Mr. Spanjer stated at the time was that he was to report back to “the Minister” by December 22, 2010.At the request of my husband, Bill Spanjer called me, but at the time, I could not speak with him. My husband asked him to return the call a few days later, which he did. He asked me if I wanted to say anything; I described my treatment at Emerson POE by the CBSA officers. He stated to me that he could not get back to me until after Christmas; I was puzzled about that statement. On January 21, 2011, my husband spoke with Bill Spanjer, who stated to him he did not know what decision had been made and expressed surprise that we had not as of that point been informed about a decision.
Sometime after my husband’s conversation with Bill Spanjer, he received a phone call from you, Ms. Burton, where you stated the exclusion order could not be reversed. He repeated to you numerous times that according to the statement on the exclusion order, this was an untruth; your reply to him was…, “We are not the ministry responsible for this…That’s with the Ministry of Public Safety.”
Yet the exclusion order I was given states on the form, “THIS FORM HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED BY THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION” at the bottom of all the pages. Also on the top of the form, on all pages next to the Canadian flag, it very clearly states, “Citizenship and Immigration Canada”
I then received a letter rubber-stamped January 28, 2011 from the Office of Public Safety and “signed” by Vic Toews, the Minister, stating that I had had 15 days to apply for a judicial review regarding the exclusion order and had not exercised this option as evidenced that,...“As there is no evidence you made such an application…”
My question for you as well as for the Canadian government is, because there is no information on my exclusion order nor could I find any on the CIC website in regard to this option, how am I expected to appeal something I do not even know is possible? By what means do you suggest could I have acquired this information from my position in another country while driving across the United States? WHO was I supposed to be able to make an application to from another country and within the time limit?
In a phone call made to Bill Spanjer by myself on February 17, 2011 to ask why the exclusion order did not state there was apparently the option of a judicial review within a 15 day period that could be requested (and at which time I read the portion of Vic Toews’ letter stating I had not exercised that option), and also to inquire as to how would one know that that option was available, Mr. Spanjer stated to me that “Terry Kreitz”, another superintendent, the one responsible for immigration, would “know” about my exclusion order; ,”I’m just in charge of goods…” he said. He further stated to me that he would ask Mr. Kreitz to call me. Later that same day, Mr. Spanjer called me back, saying he had spoken to Superintendent Kreitz, who had stated that he,“ Is not comfortable with speaking to me in view of the fact that it has already gone to the Minister’s office”…Mr. Spanjer also stated to me that, “The exclusion order is not altered (doctored).”
In summation, I am being told via the exclusion order that I was not being truthful at the border; the fact is that I was badgered and coerced at the border by CBSA bullies who had apparently been forewarned of my arrival. They tried the obvious tactics first to justify the writing of an exclusion order, by asking me why I was not carrying any type of weapon to protect myself since I was traveling on my own. Because I had no weapon and since they could not use a weapon as a reason to deny my access, they had to find some other reason to deny me access. They set up an interrogation situation rather than an interview, in which I was not allowed to explain anything. I was left sitting for well over an hour without information about the reason why, however clearly designed to induce anxiety and fear. They then subjected me to questioning designed to suggest that I was trying to enter Canada as a permanent resident, while in fact I was entering Canada as a visitor for the last time. I fully intended to drop off my belongings, and following a visit with my husband, I would return to the USA at a place closer to my husband than California to establish a residence during the time required to obtain a Canadian visa. The CBSA officers did not have the decency to call my husband to verify the things I had said even though I submitted a certified copy of my Canadian marriage certificate to them. They then falsely stated they knew I had a U-Haul full of furniture following me to the border. And even though I was a qualified 55 year old Director of Nursing from a five star Gero-psychiatric facility in California, they chose instead to call family members with whom I am estranged; who for well known reasons stated my story was a lie.
Ms. Burton, can you please tell me if there is ANYONE remaining in the Canadian Government who simply tells the truth, or have you all been socially or genetically engineered to mislead by the system? Why did you cull our application from the files? Does the Minister of CIC know you did this? Or, Ms. Burton is the Minister in on this too?
It is obvious to me, Ms. Burton, that since the Minister of Public Safety signed (mechanically?) a letter sent to me, and you also told my husband that a decision about this exclusion order was to be handled by a different ministerial office, that I have been the topic of discussion outside of the CIC Ministerial office. For what reason? Did these people have a signed release of information to discuss my case as you required my husband to submit to you, thereby further delaying this process for at least another month? I do not recall authorizing or giving a signed form to anyone but my husband, nor was he asked for a signed release authorizing any private discussions with outsiders.
Why does Vic Toews’ letter to me indicate that he does not know what is stated in the exclusion order given to me at the border?
Since it seems to me that no one in authority appears to be accountable, does the Prime Minister know that apparently Ms. G. Knox,You, Helene Chabot, (et al) are running CIC, Public Safety, and CBSA as your private fiefdom? I wonder about the other women and their partners I see posting on the internet that are describing problems with CBSA and CIC similar to my current situation. Does your “group” have a problem with real women of a certain age entering Canada?
Mrs. Jennifer Ann Kealey (315) 713-4085