Make sure you watch The Rick Mercer Report and check out his most recent rant about the York University professor who, along with his family, is being turfed out of the country because his son has Down syndrome. For a lot of people, this discrimination will be big new news. It is big in our family, too, but certainly not a new story. Our son Jim received his citizenship in 2011 after years of applications, rejections, appeals, fees, more fees, rejections and finally, because we were so lucky to have decent people working with us, citizenship in 2011. Aside from us, this has been happening for years for families who want to come to Canada. Check wth the Canadian Association for Community Living for countless files on such cases. We love Rick Mercer and we’re so glad he’s brought this issue to recent light. It’s frustrating, horrible, exasperating — but it’s not new! Maybe this new light, though, will rectify the situation. Down syndrome does not equal ‘burden to the system.’ Jim has given back very nicely, click and read Jim’s dad post on this.
Karin Melberg Schwier 