CANADA NEWS September 1998
Dwight Mason was an illegal alien for most of is childhood. It affected his whole life until the day he enlisted professional help.
A down payment on the future
MIGRATION consultants can often be filed under "L" for "lawyers".
In fact, many of them are legally trained professionals who have subsequently chosen to specialise in immigration.
Everybody has very strong views on lawyers, although some are perhaps more generous than others.
Joe Public believes they make money out of the misery of others. Joe also thinks they are too costly, arrogant, fast-talking but slow to act, and many other opinions that have no place in a reputable publication such as this.
But come the time when Joe wants legal help with a problem, well, that's a whole new ball game.
You can bet he'll be first in the waiting room with some excuse for why he didn't deal with the matter earlier, or that he doesn't usually use lawyers but, under these "special" circumstances, he has made an exception. As if he's doing them the favor!
In truth, it is difficult to put a financial value on the services of a lawyer -- in this case a migration expert -- because the test is so subjective.
One person with limited time on their hands may consider it money well spent, whereas another will thoroughly resent paying for something they feel they can do themselves.
Training, qualifications, experience and objectivity certainly has a price -- as does legal insurance against professional negligence -- but the value of this depends upon the applicant's circumstances.
Indeed, how can one put a price on the right to determine one's own life?
Canada News spoke to Dwight Mason, a migrant of 15 years. He ran into severe difficult whilst living in Canada, which prompted him to obtain professional assistance.
"I'd been out there since the age of three," he began. "What I remember most is waiting at the airport with my mother for my aunt and uncle to pick us up and being entranced by the snow, which I had never seen before."
"When my biological mother left to return to Jamaica she told me that my aunt and uncle were my new mom and dad," recalled Dwight.
"My new mother had me enrolled in school when I was five, despite the fact that I did not have my papers."
"In grade nine, when my friends started working and going for their driver's licence, I started to feel a little left out. It was only then that I began to realise the seriousness of my situation."
Dwight was very sociable and motivated, the sort who wanted to be involved in everything. He joined the dance committee in grade nine and for the next three years was involved in putting together the school soirees. He was also on the track team, and in the final year of High School he was in charge of the weight room after class.
"In 1997, I wanted to be hired as a counsellor at a Camp but could not, as I did not have a social insurance card or medicare card," he sighed.
"As of September 1997, I was no longer able to attend school, since the colleges in Quebec required proof of my status for enrollment. I was also unable to work. The situation was ruining more of my life the older I got."
"I therefore decided to contact an expert in the immigration field. I saw an ad for a firm called Brownstein and Brownstein. When I telephoned to ask if something could be done they asked me to come in for an initial consultation.
"They gave me a lot of confidence, even though I was not eligible under any of the traditional immigration categories, since aunts and uncles are not allowed to sponsor and I would not have enough points as an independent," he said.
The firm submitted an application on his behalf based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds from within Canada.
The application claimed that his whole life was in Canada and that it would cause extreme hardship to return to his birthplace, Jamaica, as he had not been back since the age of three.
"I had no ties there, and if I was forced to return I would have no feeling of comfort or security."
His application was recently approved. Dwight is now ecstatic -- and he promises never to badmouth lawyers again.
