Disabled Girl Reduced to a Number

Immigrant family told daughter's health care costs 'an excessive burden;' may have to return to France

MONTREAL — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 12:00AM EST Last updated on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 5:38AM EST

To federal officials, it's the cost of admitting an immigrant family whose daughter has cerebral palsy: $5,259 a year.

To a father, it's an unfair and unfeeling calculation.

"It's really tough to hear your daughter reduced to a number and described as an excessive burden," said David Barlagne yesterday after lawyers and immigration officials argued before a Federal Court judge on the fate of the Barlagne family.

Persuaded to immigrate here from France and establish a business, the Barlagnes may now have to return because of the "excessive burden" of $5,259 a year in extra education costs that their 7-year-old daughter Rachel's cerebral palsy would impose on the public.

The family's level of income and savings makes her "medically inadmissible" to permanently live in Canada, court was told.

Mr. Barlagne, who is the co-owner of two small software businesses, one still based in France, the other at a Montreal office, brought his family to Canada in 2005. He was wooed by a Canadian embassy official in Paris who, with other staff, was charged with drawing new business to Quebec.

When Mr. Barlagne applied for permanent status for his family in 2008, he, his wife and elder daughter were accepted. Rachel was denied.

During the 2008 proceedings, Mr. Barlagne said he could pay for the girl's care. He submitted statements showing his French business was just $5,000 short of breaking even in 2006 on revenue of $356,000 a year. His family had $68,000 in the bank.
The immigration adjudicator ruled it wasn't enough to guarantee he could cover the burden imposed by the girl.

Federal lawyer Michèle Joubert pointed out that Mr. Barlagne didn't offer more detailed business statements or tax returns to prove a steady income.

Nobody asked for more financial documents, Mr. Barlagne said. "I've supported my family in Canada for five years, and we had savings. It seemed like it was sufficient."
Mr. Barlagne maintains that an embassy official reassured him his daughter's disability would pose no problem, something the official has since denied.

Judge Joanne Gauthier set aside the dispute, saying her job was to rule on a legal appeal, not to analyze duelling accounts of a meeting five years ago.

Instead, the judge, who could either side with Ottawa or order officials to start over, wondered why Mr. Barlagne's lawyers have not pursued a humanitarian exemption.
After the hearing, Mr. Barlagne's lawyers acknowledged his best hope rests with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and the special permit he could grant on humanitarian grounds.

But lawyer Stéphane Minson said the system discriminates against disabled children, and the law must change.

"A child should not be reduced to a financial figure," Mr. Minson said. "But it's clear this is becoming a political debate, and it's less a question of law than morality."