'Robert P. Downie, Canadian Immigration Consultant Interview'

Name of your website?

Robert P. Downie, Canadian Immigration Consultant

Your name?

Robert P. Downie

Your Location (city, etc)

Oakville

Please give us a short summary of your website?

Experienced, former Canadian Immigration / Visa Officer, & Full Member of C.S.I.C. available to legally act as Authorized Representative for clients in Canada & abroad, with their various Permanent Resident Visa, & Citizenship applications.

What inspired you to launch your own website?

After 20 years experience as an Immigration / Visa Officer, I saw the need to help, & to advocate on behalf of, clients involved in the process of emigrating to, or trying to remain in, Canada.

When did you launch your first website, and what was it?

My 701 / Goldbook site was started in 1999.

How did you decide on a name for your website?

I thought my name would be recognized by clients.

What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?

Its short & to the point.

What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)

To keep on assisting clients here, & abroad, with their Immigration problems.

How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?

Fairly well for now.

If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?

I'd increase my website.

If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?

Yes, I would.

What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?

Increased annual C.S.I.C. membership Fees, & C.A.P.I.C. Fees; & the cost & time involved in attending ongoing Professional Development Seminars.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Due to having a small website, trying to attract more clients.

What method has been most successful for promoting your website?

Having it on 701 / Goldbook so far.

How has running your website differed from your expectations?

I don't run it.

How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?

As stated, since 1999. Will continue it ahead.

Replace this with a question of your own

N / A

What is your website address?

Robert P. Downie, Canadian Immigration Consultant

Please immediately remove my details from your blog., & so called interview.

I am no longer a full member of CSIC, etc... & cannot now act as Authorized Representative for clients in Immigration matters.

Comfirm that you have received this e-mail, have removed it, & the old photo caption, & wording entirely from your blog. which are not now correct.

Yours truly,

Robert P. Downie

As I've already twice asked, since 17/Aprl/09, please immediately remove / delete all of my details from your site(s), a I've gone out of business; & also confirm when this has been.

Thank you.

Yours truly,

R.P. Downie

20/April/09

I wrote this letter with the utmost faith that right will prevail, and that the best interests of my children will be served, April 10th, 2008, to

Ronald Ramkissoon

Immigration Matters

2390 Eglinton Avenue East

Scarborough, ON

M1K 2P5

"I met Olivia, as a young lady of 16, when her cousin brought her to apply for a job as a dishwasher at my restaurant. As my husband and I came to know and like her, we offered her a position as a live-in nanny for my two daughters, Taryn and Mara, aged 5 and 2 respectively.

As years passed, we put our efforts forth to obtain landed immigrant status for Olivia. We hired Thomas Sutherland, Q.C., Burlington, went through all the documentation and expense, and were rejected in the eleventh hour. He stayed on in the Islands for a few extra days I was an emotional mess. It wasn’t just because I was without a caregiver; I had come to think of Olivia as a part of my family, as another daughter. My husband and I are in the fine dining restaurant business, and I do administrative work from my home, and then physically work split shifts in the restaurant 5 days per week. Someone you can trust in that type of situation is very hard to come by. When Olivia was taken from us, we “went through” 3 different nannies, all from agencies, all of whom we had to let go for their lack of abilities and interest in my children.

Olivia did eventually work her way back to us; it was a genuine homecoming. We had two more children in the same year, Scarlett and Joey, in her absence.

We supply Olivia with room and board, food, and all of her necessities, and, we pay her $250.00 per week. Her father and brother and the rest of her family, residing in Canada, have refused to help her, although they have landed immigrant status and/or citizenship. They do not, however, hesitate to call her and ask her to “lend” them money repeatedly. Her father and brother are both employed and have many children between them.

My family has “adopted” Olivia as a daughter/sibling. She has been a part of my family for almost 20 years. To take her away from us now would cause my family undue hardship. Imagine the loss of losing a family member after 20 years. In addition, I would not feel comfortable, nor do I believe it is legal, to leave my youngest 2 children (11 and 12 years of age) alone every night while I work at the restaurant until 11 o’clock or later. I implore you to let Olivia stay with us, legally. It is in the best interests of my children, and my family as a whole, to have Olivia with us.

If you have any questions, please contact me at your earliest convenience."

This was what he deemed necessary to begin Olivia's Humanitarian & Compassionate Claim (as well as a few thousand dollars). These claims take from 1 - 4 yrs to be heard. We are about 1 1/2 yrs into the claim now.

My 2 youngest children at home are now 12 and 13 yrs old: Mara is 20 now and works for the Canadian Navy, and Taryn is 23 and on her own.

We no longer pay Olivia because she does housekeeping and lives with us as a family.

Olivia contacted Canadian Immigration and Citizenship at the beginning of 2009 and was told she could get a Work Permit while she was awaiting a resolution of her claim. We drove her to the Federal Bldg in Hamilton and left. She called a couple of hours later that she was being detained. When she returned from Dominica after the debacle with Mr. Sutherland, she went to Montreal where her father lives, as a landed immigrant, a Rastafarian, who has often used this country's Assistance programmes, and 2 of her brothers who are also landed. She then came to Ontario, and changed her address at the post office. That was 5 yrs ago.

Now there was a warrant out for her arrest. She obviously made a mistake too - she forgot to tell one arm of the Fed gov't what the other arm was doing - she did not notify CIC , just the Post Office. So we went to our M.P. Mike Wallace and he and his office tried to help by asking the Minister of Public Safety to Intervene. (see attached letter) He decided not to intervene. We then tried to adopt her as an adult. Just doesn't happen... We had tried to adopt her when she was 18 also.

Olivia is now 36, having lived the last 19 yrs in Canada. She is part of my family. She has no home to go to in Dominica. This is her home and we are her family. She is a "Canadian" now. We will be fiscally responsible for her and provide her shelter FOREVER.

We arrived on Monday at the Enforcement Office at 6900 Airport Road for her 2nd "Removal Order" interview. It was not an interview. The officer gave us instructions re: Removal and told that her one-way plane ticket to Dominica is to be picked up next Thurs Aug 20th for an immediate departure.

I have been researching the "Appeal Process" which is as follows:

As noted in Chapter 1, only certain persons who have had a removal order issued against them have a right to appeal to the Appeal Division. One such category of persons are those who have "valid immigrant visas" and those who have "valid visitor's visas" at the time of seeking entry or landing. Such persons have a right of appeal under subsection 70(2) of the Immigration Act (the "Act") which provides as follows:

70(2) Subject to subsections (3) to (5), an appeal lies to the Appeal Division from a removal order or conditional removal order made against a person who

…

(b) seeks landing or entry and, at the time that a report with respect to the person was made by an immigration officer pursuant to paragraph 20(1)(a), was in possession of a valid immigrant visa, in the case of a person seeking landing, or a valid visitor's visa, in the case of a person seeking entry.

An appeal to the Appeal Division under this provision can be based on one or both of the two grounds of appeal found in subsection 70(3) of the Act. The first ground of appeal involves a question of law or fact and the second is based on the discretionary jurisdiction of the Appeal Division. Subsection 70(3) provides as follows:

70(3) An appeal to the Appeal Division under subsection (2) may be based on either or both of the following grounds:

(a) on any ground of appeal that involves a question of law or fact, or mixed law and fact; and

(b) on the ground that, having regard to the existence of compassionate or humanitarian considerations, the person should not be removed from Canada.

Olivia did not have a "valid vistor's visa" when she applied to the CIC on Humanitarian & Compassionate Grounds, therefore she has no remedy available. I did question the "Commonwealth" country moniker - aren't the Commonwealth countries supposed to help each other?

We were told on Monday that her claim will proceed with her removed from this country (Immigration Experts have since rolled their eyes at that!), I asked one simple question: WHAT IS FAIR ABOUT THIS? No one can answer my question. Is the Hernandez Family being treated fairly too???????? Does anyone else think this is unjust????

Jane Michael

2196 Sandringham Drive

Burlington ON L7P 1T9

905.319.6582

email north@cogeco.net

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