With the tidal waves destroying most of the coastal areas in Sri Lanka as well as in many other surrounding countries in the Indian Ocean, the whole world turned their eyes to the region for days following the disaster. I for one was glued to the TV almost all day during the holidays following Christmas, switching between different international news channels, and watching in disbelief, the catastrophe that shook South Asia.
I read with an aching heart an internet article written by a British volunteer medical student of Sri Lankan origin about the situation in the Mullativu hospital, the helpless situation of residents of Galle in down south, and about entire beach resort hotels being washed away along with staff and guests in many places along the coastline of the island.
These are only a few of the horror stories, which emerged following one of the greatest natural disasters the world has ever known.
I know that many Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents personally know people who were affected by this horrific disaster and to them I send my most heartfelt condolences.
On a positive note, it was heartwarming to watch the response of humankind as a whole to the diaster, with so many offering their energy, time, and money, to try to assist those affected.
Aid and donations from governments and private persons alike were flowing to the affected areas from both near and far. One can only hope that this spirit of helping those in need continues unabated as South Asia recovers from the disaster.
In response to the situation, the Canadian government immediately announced changes to its Immigration Program in order to offer relief to tsunami-affected family members of Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents following the diaster. Various relief measures were announced and information about these relief measures have bene posted on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website (www.cic.gc.ca) with foll free numbers set up to contact for assistance.
One of the changes announced by the government is that all Family Class sponsorship applications and applications of Dependants of Refugees who were affected by the disaster will now be fast tracked.
As well, if a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident who has a relative in the Tsunami affected areas that falls within the definition of a member of the Family Class (such as parent, grand-parent, spouse, child, orphaned niece or nephew, etc) and if you wish to sponsor your Family Class relative, such cases too will be processed on a priority basis.
Moreover, in cases where your relative does not fall within the definition of Family Class (for example an adult sister or brother, etc.) they may make an application for permanent residence in Canada on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds provided that their Canadian relative is willing and able to provide an undertaking of financial support.
Finally, another form of relief granted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada is that tsunami affected applications and sponsorships will be fee exempted.
While anybody can make an application on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds, the CIC website stresses that applicants must meet certain criteria to merit consideration for special relief. Such criteria require that the applicant be directly, personally and significantly affected by the disaster.
A word of caution however for the interested applicants. I expect that the Canadian High Commission will be carefully scrutinizing the applications of persons who claim to have been personally and significantly affected by the disaster.
I also expect that the High Commission will be taking steps to verify the authenticity of every piece of information provided in support of such claims. As there is a lot of fraud involved in the immigration industry and as there are unscrupulous individuals waiting to capitalize on times such as now, the Canadian High Commission will be extra careful to keep fake claims at bay.
The disaster undoubtedly was unprecedented. Don't you think the response from the world at large was unprecedented too?
For more information, you may surf the Citizenship and Immigration website.
Khalid
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