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Hospital worker faces eviction still awaiting ‘Christmas miracle’

Claudia Zamorano, 27, has been working since 2020 as a maintenance worker at the Royal Columbian Hospital in a wing where patients with COVID-19 are treated.

Having arrived in Canada from Mexico with her husband, daughter and her husband’s mother and brother in 2017, she says she is the target of death threats from organized crime, but that the family is not authorized to remain in Canada.

They applied for permanent residency on humanitarian grounds a year ago but are awaiting processing as their December 19 deportation date approaches.

We are so thankful and blessed, and I trust in my heart that some kind of miracle, a Christmas miracle, will happen.says Claudia Zamorano, her voice filled with emotion.

She described her situation to reporters and a small group of advocates from the various sectors who have been affected by their presence in Canada: colleagues, union members, migrant advocacy groups and members of the organization where Ms. Zamorano’s mother prepare meals for people in need.

A truce denied

Nearly two weeks ago, British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix also called on Ottawa to halt the deportation, saying the province must ensure the safety of the family who have contributed so much to the safety of British Columbians.

Last week, the family’s lawyer filed a deportation request with the Border Services Agency pending the permanent residency decision. The request was over 940 pages, but was denied in less than 24 hours.

I don’t know how it is possible that in 24 hours they have leafed through 940 pagessays Omar Chu, of the migrant advocacy group Sanctuary Health. He adds that the ordeal will mark the family for life. Even if this family gets permission to stay, the stress and trauma of this experience won’t go away.he said.

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Omar Chu is an activist with the migrant advocacy group Sanctuary Health. “The stress this family is under is unimaginable,” he says.

Photo : Radio-Canada / William Burr

On a table at St James’s Church in Vancouver, where the group met on Saturday, were nearly 1,000 Christmas cards with the words Let them stay! individually signed by members of the Hospital Workers Union (HEU) and other supporters.

Betty Valenzuela, finance secretary of the union, recalled that Canada suffers from a shortage of health workers: Canada wants migrants to come here to work. He wants them to do the jobs Canadians don’t want to do.

Christmas cards in support of the Zamorano family.

Christmas cards at St James’s Church in Vancouver show support for Claudia Zamorano’s family.

Photo : Radio-Canada / William Burr

Claudia Zamorano’s husband and brother-in-law work in construction, while her mother-in-law volunteers with the Watari charity.

000 meals offered in the Downtown Eastside. And Letizia [la belle-mère de Claudia] contributed a lot to this milestone”,”text”:”A month ago, we reached 100,000 meals served in the Downtown Eastside. And Letizia [la belle-mère de Claudia] contributed a lot to this goal””>A month ago, we hit 100,000 meals served in the Downtown Eastside. And Letizia [la belle-mère de Claudia] contributed a lot to this resultsays Ingrid Mendez, director of the organization.

Claudia Zamorano, for her part, says she is fighting so that her daughter can do it live safe.

As a mother, you are not even aware of what you are capable of doing for the welfare of your children., she says. Note that her daughter, visibly excited during the press conference, lived more in English than in Spanish.

Neither the Border Services Agency nor Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada responded to requests for comment.

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