Family split between Canada, Columbia

BY BRENT FOX

The Advertiser

NovaNewsNow.com

A local family wants to be reunited and they’re hoping friends will help.

Immigration officials deported Wolfville businessman and local soccer builder Juan Ramirez to his native Colombia in October. He’s trying to get paperwork together now for another immigration refugee application, but the process could take a year.

Meanwhile, his wife and business partner, Dara, and their three children - ages six, four and 18 months - are left without him. Dara continues to operate their Wolfville business, Juandaros Soccer Boutique, and keep things going for the kids. She’s spearheading letterwriting and bracelet campaigns to show support for her husband's application.

Hundreds of letters of support from the community could make the application stronger, she says, and a desired outcome more timely; or, if the application is unsuccessful, help with an appeal on humanitarian grounds.

The blue and white bracelets read, “Reunite a Family” and sport the Canadian and Colombian flags. Dara said if 1,000 people are wearing the bracelets, it’ll send a powerful message to officials.

She has also solicited political support as a possible means to reduce the wait. Politicians should see the need for Juan to be here with his children, she says. Dara added that Kings-Hants MP Scott Brison would meet with the minister on the matter soon.

At the same time, the children are trying to cope, Dara says. “It's really difficult for them. They can't understand why he can't be here.” All she can do is tell them that he can't be home.

Met at Baldursson tourney

Fittingly for the well-known soccer couple, Dara met Juan at the Gunn Baldursson soccer tournament in Wolfville in 1998.

Juan had arrived in Canada in the early 1990s. His first immigration refugee application in 1998 was denied because of unsubstantiated suspicions he had been associated with units allegedly responsible for excesses in the ongoing counter-terrorist effort in that country. Juan was a pilot in the Colombian armed forces before coming to Canada and had actually complained about military activities, endangering his own life.

Dara says Juan had represented himself at the 1998 hearing; he should have engaged legal counsel. In telling the panel members of his plight, he apparently implicated himself in their eyes.

After that unsuccessful attempt, Juan had to leave the country for at least three months. The couple went to Spain, returning to Canada in January 2000. Since then, they began a family, built their soccer-based business and helped to promote the local soccer scene.

The couple was confident the businessman and community volunteer would be successful with his last application in May, 2006. The results arrived in September. “Here we are,” Dara says.

Juan's legal counsel, Lee Cohen, says a successful letter campaign would show immigration officials and politicians that Juan enjoys widespread support in the community from a variety of citizens.

People wishing to write letters can send them to the boutique at 360 Main Street, Suite 21, Wolfville, N.S., B4P 1C4; or e-mail Dara at juandaros@eastlink.ca or Paul Smith at pksmith@gov.ns.ca.

A website will be established in the near future with more information.