MP Randall Garrison is calling on Immigration Minster Jason Kenney to allow an elderly Sikh woman living with family in Langford to remain in the country.
Surjit Bhandal, 83, raised her nephews in India. Now, those nephews live in Canada and want their aunt to be admitted to Canada as a "de facto" family member.
Surjit, who has no close relatives left in India and no home to return to, came to Canada as a visitor in 2008.
She has applied unsuccessfully for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds three times, and immigration officials now want her to appear at a pre-removal assessment on Jan. 9. An order for deportation is expected to follow.
"This is a case where humanitarian and compassionate grounds seem so evident, it is unbelievable to me that this case has resulted in a rejection," Garrison said Friday at a press conference.
Garrison is asking Kenney to use his discretionary powers to grant Bhandal permanent residency or a temporary residency permit.
Bhandal, who has never lived on her own, has no family in India except for an estranged sister whose whereabouts are not known.
She is now is staying in Langford with nephew Jas-minder Bhandal. Surjit Bhandal raised Jasminder and his brother, who now lives in Surrey, because their mother, Surjit's sister-in-law, has disabilities.
After most of the family immigrated to Canada - Jasminder came to Canada in 1992 - Bhandal continued to care for her sister-in-law.
When his father died in India in 2005, Jasminder sponsored his mother for permanent residency in Canada. He was not allowed to sponsor Surjit because she is not his parent.
Jasminder, who works as a builder, is constructing a home in Langford with two rooms he hopes will be occupied by his mother and aunt.
"She's like my mother," Bhandal said of Surjit. "I take all the responsibility. She's 83 years old and I don't know how long she'll live - maybe two years, maybe three years."
Garrison said the family has been working hard to provide for Surjit.
"For the past four years, the Bhandal family has been doing everything in its power to demonstrate that they will take responsibility, complete responsibility, for Surjit here in Canada," Garrison said.
"They have purchased insurance, she resides with them, she's in no way ever to be a burden on Canadians."
