Brian Sumner attended citizenship ceremony in 2022, but was marked as a no-show when judge couldn’t see him
A Manitoba man stuck in immigration limbo because of a technical snafu during a virtual ceremony became a Canadian citizen last week after deciding to go public with his year-long saga
Brian Sumner, 66, was born in England and has lived in Canada since 2006. Instead of renewing his permanent residency for the third time, he decided in 2021 to apply to become a Canadian citizen
Little did he know that decision would leave him with no citizenship papers or permanent residency card, and unable to leave the country as he waited for documentation that never arrived
I have really nowhere to go. They don’t answer phone calls. They don’t answer your messages. They don’t answer the forms that they put online for you to fill
Sumner said of his experience with the federal Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Department
Citizenship ceremony glitch
His troubles began when he attended a virtual ceremony on March 29, 2022. He was instructed to cut up his permanent residency card — as is the standard procedure — and take an oath of citizenship in front of a judge
He logged on and saw the judge and the other people taking part in the ceremony when suddenly the screen went black. He could still listen to the ceremony, so he waited and took the oath along with everyone else
The screen came back on, he saw Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulating everyone and then the ceremony ended
Soon after an email came in, congratulating him on becoming a Canadian citizen
Sumner says he waited for more information to come, including his citizenship certificate number that would allow him to apply for a new passport, but nothing arrived
And we waited and waited and waited
Sumner saidSo a couple of weeks later I tried phoning them.… It was horrendous
Each call he made to the immigration department involved six minutes of choosing various options before an automated message told him no one was available and to try again later
Then he noticed his status on the online portal went from pending to closed
From that moment about a month after the ceremony, he estimated he called two or three times a week and only got through once — and they weren’t able to give him any information
To add to the confusion, he got a certificate from his area MP, Ted Falk, congratulating him on becoming a citizen. He called Falk’s assistant, hoping to learn the status of his file, and the department told Falk’s assistant Sumner’s citizenship certificate had been shredded
Apparently, because the judge hadn’t seen me, it was null and void … but I couldn’t find out any of that information
Sumner said
This limbo continued until February of this year, leaving Sumner unable to travel because he had torn up his permanent residency card, and unable to collect the Old Age Security he was entitled to when he turned 65
Respond to a phone call. You’re a big organization
he said
To me it is being able to travel, being able to collect the money, to me [it] is having the freedom to vote
Department called during interview
After months of silence and an email from CBC to the department, Sumner got a call from them in the midst of an interview with CBC, asking if he would be available to attend a citizenship ceremony the next week
“Why does it take getting the media involved to get action done on something?” he asked
BRIAN SUMNER GETS CALL FROM IMMIGRATION DURING CBC NEWS INTERVIEW
5 hours agoDuration1:17While doing an interview with CBC News about his issues with getting his citizenship, an employee from Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada called Brian Sumner to invite him to a citizenship ceremony. Video has been edited for length and to remove personal information
The next day, Sumner got another call from the deputy director of the department in Manitoba, apologizing for the error and offering to do an private virtual ceremony in the next 30 minutes
On that day, Feb. 10, Sumner officially became a Canadian citizen
Absolutely stunned
he said after becoming a Canadian citizen, nearly a year after his first ceremony
I am really, really happy. It is a weight lifted off my mind
Lawyers say department difficult to reach
Immigration lawyers in Winnipeg say the issues Sumner faced are commonplace when dealing with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
I’m no longer shocked and surprised by that kind of government delay, the frustrations individuals have when trying to just have basic communications with the department
said Reis Pagtakhan, an immigration lawyer and partner at MLT Aikins
That seems to be more often a regular occurrence than it is an exception
Pagtakhan said he often sends multiple emails to the department, asking questions about a file, only to never hear back from them
The government of Canada either doesn’t get back to you, it gets back to you in weeks or months or gets back to you with refusing your application
Pagtakhan said
Well, if you answered my question, I could fix that
He said Manitobans would never accept a one-year wait for a new driver’s licence over a technical error
“So why is that acceptable in an immigration process?” he asked
That point was echoed by Winnipeg immigration lawyer Carolina Fridman
It’s unbelievable
Fridman said upon hearing Sumner’s storyThere has got to be another way to contact them
She said more often than not, going to the media can get faster results than actually trying to reach someone at Immigration, as the department is really not easy to navigate
System recorded Sumner as no-show
A spokesperson for the department told CBC News because Sumner lost connection during the ceremony, the judge did not see him take his oath of citizenship
He was recorded as a no-show
in the department’s system
However, that same system also recorded he had taken the oath and his filed was closed, the spokesperson told CBC News
His citizenship certificate was created and then destroyed. It took another five months before the administrative error was realized
The spokesperson called Sumner’s situation a regrettable error
and apologized for what happened
On Sept. 2, 2022, his citizenship application was regranted and he was placed in the ceremony-ready queue
the spokesperson said
It’s unclear why there was no communication between the Immigration Department and Sumner during this period
Pagtakhan said this all could have been wrapped up sooner if the government had realized its mistake earlier and communicated it to Sumner
“The problem is the government takes months and months and months to come to that solution,” he said
If the government provided the solution to that individual to get their citizenship a week after they messed it up, then this would not be something we’d be talking about
Kristin Annable · CBC News
