I stepped into the cramped living room of the Tshimanga family’s Montreal apartment, where a toddler clutched a worn teddy bear, unaware his father might soon be forced onto a plane to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The room felt heavy with uncertainty.
“My children ask every day when their papa is coming home,” Marie Kaseya told me, eyes fixed on a family photo. Her husband, Jean Tshimanga, has spent four months in immigration detention facing deportation after living in Canada for seven years.
The Tshimanga family isn’t alone. Across Quebec, at least six families are fighting to keep their fathers from being deported to various African countries. These cases highlight troubling patterns in Canada’s immigration enforcement system, particularly affecting Black immigrants with Canadian-born children.
I reviewed more than 50 pages of immigration filings for three of these cases. Each father had established deep roots in Canada – working legally, paying taxes, and raising Canadian children – before facing removal orders.
Immigration lawyer Stéphanie Valois, who represents two of the families, points to systemic issues. “These aren’t cases of serious criminality. We’re seeing fathers who’ve committed minor offenses or simply fallen out of status while building lives here for years,” Valois explained during our interview at her downtown Montreal office.
The Canada Border Services Agency maintains these removals follow established protocols. “All individuals ordered removed from Canada are entitled to due process,” wrote CBSA spokesperson Rebecca Thompson in an emailed response. She noted the agency is legally obligated to enforce removal orders once all appeals are exhausted.
But critics question whether enforcement priorities properly consider family unity. A 2023 report from the Canadian Council for Refugees documented significant disparities in how removal orders are executed, with Black immigrants facing faster deportation timelines than other groups.
Professor Delphine Nakache, a University of Ottawa immigration law expert, sees concerning patterns. “The best interests of Canadian children should be paramount in these decisions,” she told me by phone. “International law and Canadian jurisprudence both recognize family separation should be a measure of absolute last resort.”
For the children caught in these cases, the consequences are profound. Eight-year-old Amina draws pictures of her father coming home while her mother, Fatou Diallo, fights to prevent his deportation to Senegal. “She’s having nightmares, trouble at school. How do I explain to a child why the country she was born in is sending her father away?” Diallo asked.
Medical records provided to me show Amina began therapy for anxiety directly related to her father’s possible deportation. Her therapist documented sleep disturbances and declining academic performance.
The legal battles drain already stretched resources. Families sell possessions, take additional jobs, and launch crowdfunding campaigns to afford legal representation. The Tshimanga family’s GoFundMe page has raised just under $7,000 of their $15,000 goal for legal fees.
CBSA detention costs taxpayers approximately $320 per day per detainee, according to government data obtained through access to information requests. For long-term detainees, this can exceed $100,000 annually – far more than the cost of community supervision alternatives.
Immigration consultant Marcel Tremblay, who works with several affected families, noted a disturbing acceleration in enforcement actions. “We’re seeing removal orders executed with unprecedented speed, even while humanitarian applications are pending,” he said, showing me case timelines spanning the past eighteen months.
The Minister of Immigration holds discretionary power to grant temporary resident permits on humanitarian grounds. A spokesperson for the minister’s office confirmed they are reviewing the cases but declined to comment on specific files, citing privacy regulations.
Community advocate Marlene Jennings, former Liberal MP and now executive director of the Quebec Community Groups Network, believes these cases deserve closer scrutiny. “When we deport parents of Canadian children, we’re effectively punishing citizens for their parents’ immigration status,” she said during a community meeting I attended last week.
The fathers’ stories follow similar trajectories – arriving legally on work or student permits, building lives in Canada, then facing removal due to status issues or minor infractions. Court documents show one father’s removal order stems from working additional hours beyond what his permit allowed during the pandemic when his employer faced staffing shortages.
What stands out in reviewing these cases is the absence of serious criminality or security concerns that would typically accelerate deportation proceedings. Instead, most involve administrative violations of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
For Marie Kaseya, the situation feels increasingly desperate. “My children are Canadian citizens. They deserve to grow up with their father,” she said, showing me her husband’s collection of Family Day cards made by their children. “How does separating a family make Canada safer or better?”
As these cases wind through appeals and humanitarian applications, the families live in limbo, checking in with CBSA officers and waiting for decisions that will determine whether their family units remain intact.
“The most painful part,” Kaseya confided as I was leaving, “is not knowing what to tell my children when they ask when their father is coming home.”
