Hamilton mom says botched immigration process led to 'horrific' months-long separation from family
CBC
A week-long trip to help her mother in Ohio turned into a "horrific" ordeal for Sarah Arvanitis when she was denied entry back into Canada and separated from her young daughter.
Arvanitis, 35, has filed a complaint with the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) against her Hamilton immigration lawyer, funded through Legal Aid Ontario. She alleges the "devastating" three-month separation came after she was denied entry into Canada on the grounds she was missing a key document — a permanent residency application she says her lawyer assured her had been filed.
Her complaint was filed in May and there hasn't yet been a decision by the LSO.
While she was stuck in the U.S. between March and June, Arvanitis said, her 10-year-old daughter in Ontario was distraught, calling her every day crying and struggling in school.
Without Arvanitis's care, her husband Tom, who has diabetes and is on bed rest, saw his health deteriorate, leading to his leg being amputated below the knee in May, she said.
"I can't even describe the feeling of absolute turmoil and helplessness," Sarah Arvanitis told CBC Hamilton.
"I found myself sitting on the floor most of the time crying and crying. I thought I'm never going to see my husband again. And I just need my daughter."
She is one of two Hamilton families who have shared frustrations about their immigration process led by the same lawyer — a process many newcomers feel too vulnerable to raise concerns about, one expert told CBC Hamilton, even if they fear their application is in jeopardy.
In Arvanitis's case, she was under the impression her lawyer, Victoria Bruyn, had filed her permanent resident application in 2021, as Bruyn had then told her in an email.
Bruyn also provided her with a shipment summary — a Fedex receipt — showing she paid to send a package from her Hamilton office to the Vancouver office of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that summer.
The application Bruyn claims to have submitted was provided to Arvanitis this June and seen by CBC Hamilton.
However, there is "no record" of such an application ever being filed for Arvanitis — only visitor visas, according to IRCC. That's why Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers did not allow her to re-enter Canada, says a report they issued at the border on March 20.
Arvanitis also alleges in her complaint that Bruyn promised but didn't file other necessary documents for Arvanitis to get back into Canada, and by the end of April, the lawyer had stopped responding to her requests for help.
"Victoria, I feel abandoned by you," Arvanitis wrote in a text message while still in Ohio on April 27, something included in her complaint.
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