Is this any way for government to act?
Comments. Considerations. Questions.
by Kenneth Bagnell
“The best evidence against the government,” Winston Churchill once said, “is just to have a few minutes conversation with the average citizen.” I had that kind of revealing conversation the other day. It was with my friend Andre Le Roux a thoughtful architect (born and raised near Johannesburg in South Africa), who came to Canada in 1965. Once here he married into a very socially committed church family. (He’s an active member of Toronto’s Eglinton St. George’s United Church and among activities is also chair of the board of a social housing apartment building. Anyway, Andre, who gets this blog, had a story for me last week, one that bothered him, but in his quiet manner felt he should tell me about its frustration. (The Harper government may have had indirect or direct influence on the matter at that time.)
It all began in February, 2015, in Cuba, specifically in a quiet city called Matanzas, set on a bay of that name with a serene beauty that is reflected in the phrase given it, The Venice of Cuba. Seventeen bridges cross its three rivers and when evening comes music and song flows upon its three rivers along which you hear Cuban conversation mingling with the descending shadow of evening. Matanzas has a unique character given Cuba’s recent long secularity: a seminary, founded in 1946 by Presbyterians and Methodists which today has an enrollment of about 300. Canadians often go for short term study or seminars, a recent Moderator, Dr. Gary Paterson, being one.
My friend Andre has been to Cuba more than once; he likes Matanzas very much, its folklore and contemporary culture, and for sure its citizenry. In fact, in February, 2015, he spent an entire month there, studying Spanish, a worthy ambition for a man, busy with life when he’s a bit beyond middle age. He made Cuban friends with ease, since Cubans are, in general, gregarious. He stayed at what’s known as the Kairos Christian Centre, and each morning walked to the home of his language instructor, a woman named Esther, now in her early seventies and retired from teaching English at a local university. Today, in her free time, she guides visitors in their efforts to improve their Spanish.
Andre – and several Toronto friends who came with him – were treated so generously, he arranged a dinner for his friends and for Esther who helped him so much. “I departed Cuba,” Andre told me, “with a warm feeling of gratitude for their hospitality and unhesitating willingness to share what they had in a spirit of friendship and respect.” He seemed overjoyed with the goodwill of Cubans, especially his teacher Esther Lila. In their sessions, she’d told him how much she yearned to learn about the world beyond Cuba. Andre knew why. “She had never been outside Cuba,” he says. “And with the international isolation that the country had experienced since the US blockade against the Castro regime and the withdrawal of Russian assistance in 1994, the country’s economy had suffered severely.”
Naturally, when Andre and friends were back in Toronto they remembered the kindness of Cubans but especially their friend Esther. He suddenly felt that he, his family and others, could and should, give her a trip to Canada. After all she was getting on in years. They got together and had her obtain a Cuban passport. That went well. They helped her fill out the forms for her visa, which they expected to be routine, Esther being in her seventies, and thereby most unlikely to be a problem. The application went to Canada’s Embassy in Havana. It was rejected. “The explanation for refusal,” Andre told me, “included a number of factors which we felt we could satisfactorily address… Believing that the grounds for refusal could be readily be met we encouraged her to reapply as there was still plenty of time before her scheduled departure….The applications had to be submitted in Havana which involved a journey of several hours by road from Matanzas, but Esther, undaunted, made the journey a second time in good faith and with optimism and enthusiasm.” Then Andre added this sad-to- say comment: “Imagine how her hopes were dashed when she received the news for the second time that her application had been denied on the very grounds that she had “no travel history.” That from a Canadian government representative. To a senior citizen, a woman who’d never be in any trouble whatsoever, even a minor issue. None! And this not from Cubans but Canadians!
Andre and friends were both frustrated and, with reason, indignant at their own government. “It seems,” he told me, “that the immigration officials engaged at the Canadian embassy in Havana cannot tell the difference between a legitimate threat and an innocent attempt to create friendship and goodwill between citizens of our country and theirs. Soliciting some help from our MP as well as the MP for the College Street United Church in Toronto, produced no change in the stubborn attitude of the Canadian officials in Cuba…” Believe it or not, Andre and friends still did not surrender to this scarlet version of Red Tape.
They decided they’d replace Esther’s trip to Canada with one to South Africa where Andre had a brother he decided to visit. Why not take Esther? So back to the bureaucracy. This time, poor Esther was to get another visa: she was to get one for air travel from Havana to Johannesburg via Toronto, where she’d be joined by kind Andre and wife Bronwyn. As Andre told me: “For this she would only require a transit visa to allow her to wait a few hours in the airport until we could join her for the flight to Johannesburg.” All looked well. Sorry friends: Canada’s embassy bureaucrats still had a card to play. “Canada,” says Andre, “once again showed the ugly side of its immigration policies. Despite approving the granting of refugee status to 25,000 refugees, they could not see their way clear to allowing a 72 year old friend from Cuba a few hours in the departure lounge of the airport in Toronto for fear that she may, in some sinister way, abscond and seek refugee status.”
Can you believe this? Despite all this dreadful indignant hassle, Andre discussed the subject with Bronwyn and neither gave up. “For a modest increase in the airfare we found a route to South Africa via Madrid and Addis Ababa through a travel agent in Toronto.” He then added: “According to the agent, by international agreement, no transit visas were required for passengers in transit to Africa in either Madrid or Addis Ababa…” Andre and Bronwyn debated whether it was okay for Esther to be on the flight by herself. She assured them she’d be fine. So the couple decided it was acceptable; after all, they’d arrive well before Ester and, as planned, be there to meet her. At last! Things looked good. Sorry, wait a second. There’s one more minor official to include: the government man in charge of Cubana Airlines flight 470, Esther’s flight. After all, the man had a bit of authority and such men seem to like exercising it. Thus despite the assurance of the professional agent who said no transit visas were required for passengers from Havana to Madrid, the agent in charge informed Esther he would not let her board the aircraft without a visa, despite the assurance she’d been given that none was required on that route.
As Andre said when our conversation was about to end: “Thus ended a well-intentioned effort to repay a kindness. A roller coaster of emotional ups and downs ending in utter failure having done everything possible in good faith and to the best of our ability to satisfy all the conditions and regulations…” I know, Andre, it was very frustrating, very disappointing. But I dare think that in life’s long run it was by no means a failure. It recalls for me a great sermon delivered by a great preacher of the 20th century, Harry Emerson Fosdick. As I remember, the title of his sermon was: “Are you part of the problem or part of the answer?” The goal Andre and Bronwyn envisioned assures me that they were not part of the problem but part of what really counts: lives well and faithfully lived.
——————-
A footnote: for over a year I’ve been a recipient of an excellent email news service dealing with religion in life. It’s called, uniquely, Slingshot. It has an ecumenical perspective and quality journalism. I told the editor this and she was pleased. I then replied asking for permission to advise my readers that all those interested in intelligent coverage of faith and life might be welcomed as recipients at no charge. She’s waiting to have you as a recipient. Consider her invitation to sign up offered here by the Publisher and Director of Marketing:
Hi Ken – thanks for your kind words about RNS! Anyone can sign-up for The Slingshot on this page:
http://www.religionnews.com/get-rns-inbox/
30
All past blogs are archived on my website: your comments are welcome there: www.kennethbagnell.com.