Dear Honorable Judy Sgro,

Good day, and thank you for opening my email. I’ll try to keep my issue as
brief and to-the-point as possible.

I lived in Japan from April 1997 to June 2003 with my Japanese wife and our
children on a Japanese spouse-visa.
Last March my company notified me that I might be eligible for a transfer to
Toronto. I went to the Tokyo Canadian Embassy and asked the procedures of
getting a spouse-visa for my wife so that she could legally reside with me
and our children in Canada. I was informed that there was no spouse-visa
and that if I was Japanese I could apply for a work-visa which would allow
my wife to residually get a resident visa of equal validity to my work visa
in Canada, but that because I’m a Canadian, that immigration was the only
choice for my wife.
‘, ‘Due to the time constraint I was advised to go to Canada and start an
application for immigration once I got here.

On coming to Canada my company lost the business which my position was
dependant on, and due to the precarious state that my family was in I would
not start an application for immigration for my wife until I secured a
steady income in Canada. After receiving a fairly steady income through
self-employment this year, I started an application for my wife’s Permanent
Residence on April 15th.

This situation is most inconvenient, as she cannot get public medical
coverage (despite my paying for the full-family rate). I also have to pay
$75 every time I renew her Temporary Resident Permit, not to mention all the
other benefits of residents or work-permit holders.

Why is it that spouses of work-permit holders should have an easier time
gaining residence in Canada than spouses of citizens?

I would just add that a situation like this makes repatriation to Canada
very difficult for any overseas Canadians married to non-Canadians, thinking
of coming back. I believe that immigration is very important to the
Canadian economy, but I believe that repatriation might even be more
important (on a per capita basis), as the cost of integrating these types of
‘migrants’ is much less than foreigners who may not understand Canadian
culture, society or our national-languages.

Thank you for kindly reading my email.

Sincere regards,

Nicholas Edmeades

For a little over a month, Taz has been playing baseball in the Vancouver Renfrew senior rookie league for a Team called the Angels.
On April 19th they had there first game, and Taz was the first up to bat. He hit the first pitch and just stood there, in time for the pitcher to fetch the ball and tag him out. Two weeks later when he got his next hit, he proceeded to run to first base with the bat.

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‘, ‘After inquiring to one of the coaches about batting ranges, she just recommended a I play catch ball with him and practice with him in a regular park. Slightly offended a the remark, I took a personal interest in seeing that Taz held is own in this team.

It turns out that it’s not a difficult team to hold your own in. It unfortunately has a large number of players who have never played before. For the last two weeks, whenever Taz can get to bed before 9:30, I reward him by waking up early and going and practicing baseball with him for 30 mins to an hour in the park by our house. I think it’s really paying off as today although the Angels had the butts kicked, Taz was the only player to get a hit for his team. He shown for a moment in a bleak game, but I was glowing that my little boy hit the ball. I have taken some photos, but I realize that baseball is video. Hearing the sound of the hit and the cheers. On an aside, since coming back to Canada, I’ve finally got my Mac ready to edit Video, so look forward to some new movies soon.