Dennis Caul

Abstract

Xhevdet and Shukrije lived with their children in Pristina, Kosovo
until the 1990's. During this time, they were subjected to
well-documented Serbian ethnic cleansing, as guided by the cruelty of
President Slobodan Milosevic. This is the story of their continuous
struggle to overcome the injustices served upon them by various world
governments. Please take the time to read my narrative of this
family's thirteen-year plight, and then consider their simple request.

Synopsis

As with most Albanians living in Kosovo, Xhevdet Brkoli and his wife
were hard-working citizens whose familial roots extended for
generations within their homeland. Taking pride in his community,
Xhevdet worked as a Police Officer for over eight years, until the
summer of 1990 when Serbian officials terminated his employment as
part of its crackdown on Albanian government workers. This dismissal
en masse was executed through the local newspapers, and made effective
immediately. Losing his job left his family, as it did all such
families, without a source of income. But Xhevdet's situation was
worsened by the fact that Serbian aggression was more profoundly
directed at Albanians who had held trusted and respected positions in
the community. For having been a police officer, Xhevdet and his
family became conspicuous targets.

For the next two-and-half years, Xhevdet fed his family on the
goodwill of the Mother Theresa Society. He feared for the health and
safety of his children on a daily basis, but hoped that the situation
would improve. It did not. In December 1993, after two violent home
invasions by armed Serb fighters, and the subsequent constant terror,
anxiety and nightmares that these invasions brought to his family, it
became clear that this ex-Police Officer could not stay in Kosovo and
remain alive.Â*

With emotional sorrow, Shukrije and Xhevdet consulted one another
about how to serve the best interests of their children. With five
children and exhausted financial resources, their options were
severely limited: either take refuge in an underdeveloped nation near
Kosovo, or send Xhevdet ahead to an accessible and receptive developed
nation. And so, with pained heart, Xhevdet did something that too
many others have had to do – he said good-bye to his family, home, and
community, and fled his country in the hopes of securing immigration
status, suitable employment, and the financial means required to bring
his spouse and children to freedom and safety.

Known for its wealth, generosity and humanitarianism, Germany was the
natural choice of destination for Xhevdet to seek asylum. Not long
after his arrival, Xhevdet was accepted for immigration, and
immediately began working in the Albanian settlement camp for limited
pay. However, with his every move and thought concentrated upon the
future of his family, his intense motivation quickly gained him better
employment at a Frankfurt construction company.

At about 2,500 Deutsch marks per month, the pay wasn't a king's
ransom, but for Xhevdet, it was more money than he had seen in a long
time. More importantly, it was enough to eek out a living for
himself, while also allowing him to send a generous sum to his family.
Â*Most of this money was used to sustain the hungry mouths of their
children, while some of it was stashed by Shukrije to be used for the
day when she and her children could leave Pristina and be re-united
with Xhevdet in Germany.

Now settled, Xhevdet immediately went to work petitioning the German
government to accept his family for residency. He drafted and
compiled the necessary forms and documents with the help of a friend
who made himself available as an interpreter. Â*Xhevdet had come to
Germany with nothing and in a short time had managed to establish
himself as a productive member of German society, so he believed that
he was on a firm footing to support the acceptance of his family into
the country. He would be able to support them and, like him, they were
well-motivated to adjust to their adopted country. Imagine his shock
and despair when his family's application was conditionally refused.
His low income, he was told, allowed the sponsorship of only four of
his six dependants. Essentially, Xhevdet was told that he would have
to leave two loved ones behind, and obviously this was not an option
to be considered.

Unsatisfied with the German decision, he continued to earn a living,
always accepting additional shifts, whenever offered. All the while,
he struggled to unearth greater financial income by continuing to
actively search for a more lucrative job. But with his limited German
vocabulary, it was unlikely that anything would be found soon.

It was during these first tentative six months in Germany that Xhevdet
unknowingly made a regretful mistake that would later come to haunt
his family. Â*Upon his initial acceptance into Germany, he had become
eligible for financial social assistance to help him get on his feet.
But when he landed his construction job, he was initially unaware of
the bureaucratic processes required of him to transition off of social
assistance. The documentation was provided to him in German; a
language for which he had almost no proficiency. As a result, in June
and July of 1994, Xhevdet failed to claim his employment earnings to
the German government and continued to collect social assistance.
Because Xhevdet's employment was in all means legal, German officials
noted this discrepancy, placing two criminal convictions on his record
and discontinuing his assistance payments. Xhevdet was unaware that
these infractions were even on his record until he requested a German
police certificate for the purposes of applying for immigration to
Canada. German authorities had made almost no effort to contact him
regarding the matter. When Xhevdet asked the police why they had
treated the offence so lightly, an officer simply stated "It's not a
serious offence, so we didn't pursue it."

For the next five years, Xhevdet continued to work hard in Germany's
depressed urban sectors to support his wife and children from afar and
seek a means to bring his torn family back together. As a testament
to their love and devotion to one another, Shukrije and Xhevdet
maintained their ties through countless telephone calls and letters.
For one joyful month in the summer of 1997, the family was reunited in
Bulgaria at a relative's home (It wasn't safe for Xhevdet to return to
Kosovo, so they had to meet outside of their country).

The joy of the 1997 reunion was soon to be wiped out by a new string
of tragedies that began on March 31, 1999, when Milosevic's gangs of
masked militia, armed with machetes, rifles, side arms, and clubs,
methodically moved through the family's town in search of remaining
Albanians. Valbona (Shukrije and Xhevdet's second oldest child), told
me that on that March day she and some 500 other Albanians ran
panicked from their homes, searching for some safe harbour. They
convened in the yard and buildings of one residence where, from the
window of the house, she was able to witness ten armed men charge into
her home. She shudders to think what would have happened if they had
remained in the "safety" of their own home.

When the Serbs realized how many Albanians had gone missing, they
searched out and soon discovered their hiding place. A group of over
50 Serbian thugs, many of whom were using alcohol and drugs to
heighten their hostilities, spent a brief moment surveying the
situation before they came charging over fences, through doors and
windows, and from around every corner, screaming and waving their
weapons. Valbona vividly recalls how they were told to immediately
walk to the train station. "They said they are going to count to
five, and if we did not leave, then they would kill us."

Once on the train, the Albanians were convinced that the erratic mob
of Serbs intended to turn the cars into mass coffins. After a
terrifying and agonizing few hours, the train was dispatched, only to
be immediately stopped and reversed back to the station and the
taunting Serbs. This back-and-forth "game" continued for awhile, but
the Serbs finally sent the train's human cargo on its way.

They arrived at the Blaca camp in Macedonia, where a make-shift
refugee camp had been established for Albanians fleeing Kosovo.
Believing that they were now safe, Shukrije departed the train with
her five children, only to be roughly herded by Macedonian police
officers and assigned to a crowded tent, where they huddled on the
ground, one thin blanket dispatched to each occupant. Depression,
anxiety and exhaustion, as well as an occasional baton beating from a
disgruntled Macedonian police officer, became the constant companions
of the family, stripped of everything but the clothes on their backs.
So it was not surprising that, when offered the chance to emigrate,
Shukrije was one of the first in line.

Her first choice was Germany, naturally, but she was told that it had
"met its quota, and would not be accepting any more applicants." She
begged for special consideration. Having explained that her husband
was established in Germany, the aid workers suggested that she apply
to Canada, as this nation is known for its equitable immigration
policies on family-reunification. Six weeks later, on May 19, 1999,
she landed with her children in New Brunswick.

The very next day, she began to inquire about getting her husband into
Canada. She registered her spouse with the proper authorities at the
Gagetown military base that served to house and process some of the
thousands of Kosovar refugees. With great anticipation and relief,
she left the Maritimes for Calgary, believing that her husband would
be joining them in their new home within a couple weeks.

After several weeks of waiting, Shukrije became concerned that the
information she had been provided was incorrect, and began
investigating the requirements to bring Xhevdet to Canada. At that
time, she and her children were fortunate to have a member of their
new community act as a sponsor to help them settle in Calgary. Acting
on their behalf, this good-natured woman spent countless hours
submitting documentation and corresponding with Citizenship and
Immigration Canada. Unfortunately, all of her efforts were made in
vain, as it was determined that the two German infractions that
surfaced on Xhevdet's criminal record would be the application's
undoing.

The Immigration Officer who denied Xhevdet's application in 2000
equated his German convictions with Section 362 (3) of the Criminal
Code – an indictable offence, liable for imprisonment of up to ten
years. Obviously, since Xhevdet's conviction in Germany resulted in
no punitive action and was viewed as "not serious" by the German
police, we believe his offence is better equated to Section 362 (1),
wherein a person may be found guilty of either an indictable offence
and imprisonment not exceeding two years; or guilty of a summary
conviction (an even less severe finding). Since Xhevdet did not
knowingly make a false statement when he committed his offence, it is
unlikely that others would come to the conclusion this Immigration
Officer did when finding Xhevdet's actions equal to the maximum
offence and penalty under Canadian law.

Notwithstanding questions about the severity of his German offences,
it is more relevant that, had this offence occurred in Canada under
the same set of circumstances, criminal charges would not have
resulted. Given the offender's naïve position and the compassion felt
for Albanians persecuted in Kosovo immediately prior to1994, it is
more likely that some other form of compensation would have been
agreed to (e.g. through alternative measures, the offender would have
been required to pay the money back, with the possibility of an
additional small fine).

We don't think, therefore, that it would be an overstatement to say
that Germany's "overzealous persecution" of Xhevdet's mistake has had
the tragic and completely out-of-proportion result of costing him and
his family their only chance of re-uniting.

Along with deeming Xhevdet inadmissible due to criminal convictions of
a serious nature, the Immigration Officer's refusal letter of January
10, 2000 further states that Xhevdet is not eligible for consideration
under Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds because the officer felt
that Xhevdet may be eligible to sponsor his wife and children for
immigration to Germany (within a couple of years). However, as
recently as August 2002, German officials have continued to refuse his
family's applications. German authorities, however, have said that
they would be pleased to help Xhevdet immigrate to Canada.Â*Â*

And so, in 2002, while living in Canada on social assistance, Shukrije
once again put pen to paper with the intention of seeing her family
re-united. Following the instructions of friends, she submitted an
application for a spousal sponsorship.

Shortly after submitting her application, she was contacted by a CIC
officer, who told her that her application was destined to be refused
because she was ineligible to sponsor her husband. Her ineligibility
was a result of the fact that she was on social assistance for a
reason other than disability (a consequence of raising five children
alone, with limited labour-market and English skills). Furthermore,
the CIC officer told her that if she agreed to withdraw her
application at that time, they would refund $475.00 of the $550.00
application fee. With tears streaming down her face, she reluctantly
agreed.

What the officer didn't explain was that, according to Section 25 of
the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, Shukrije may have been
granted an exemption to the requirement that she meet all sponsorship
eligibility criteria, if "…the Minister is of the opinion that it is
justified by humanitarian and compassionate considerations…taking into
account the best interests of a child directly affected, or by public
policy consideration."

More succinctly, it is predictable that her application would have
been accepted under H&C considerations, even though she was on social
assistance. Â*Â*
In making this prediction, we relied upon the notion that accepting
this application was in the best interests of four children (Arbnora,
then 19 years old, was no longer a "child"), and was justified by
public policy considerations (allowing Xhevdet into the country would
promote the family's chances of economic sustainability, without their
reliance upon social assistance). Furthermore, it is doubtful that
the family, as a whole, will ever meet Germany's sponsorship
requirements (especially now that the children are aging into adults).

When I was approached for help by these local Calgarians, I
immediately advised them to re-apply under the same program for which
they were warned of refusal. I explained about the H&C
considerations, and how Canada's current immigration policies
typically require the refusal of an application in advance of the
officer taking H&C considerations into account.

In a collaborative effort that involved friends, family and
neighbours, we subsequently re-applied through the Case Processing
Centre in Mississauga, which then forwarded the application to the
Canadian Embassy in Berlin. This latest application included a formal
request for consideration under Section 25 of the IRPA, which should
have been patently evident to anyone receiving the application
package. On November 14, 2003, Shukrije received Berlin's letter,
stating that the application was refused because she failed to meet
sponsorship eligibility requirements. No mention of humanitarian and
compassionate considerations was made in that letter.

In reaction, on November 14th, we formally called upon CIC for an
acknowledgement of our request and their findings in the matter. As
per current regulations, we have only thirty (30) days to file our
appeal, which we fully intend to do if CIC officials are unable to
provide us with a satisfactory answer prior to that impending
deadline. However, we are desperately hoping to avoid that
contingency, as the continued delays are having serious consequences
on the health and well-being of all affected.Â*

Specifically, Shukrije was recently diagnosed with depression[1] (a
condition that has undoubtedly afflicted her for years), and Xhevdet
is now talking, in desperation, about uprooting the whole family to
move back to Kosovo, where, again, they will have to start over from
scratch. Â*Given the clear and present danger which remains there for
Xhevdet, such considerations simply underscore the grave frustration
felt by him. Â*More critical is the impact on each child, as they are
forced to celebrate another birthday at the end of this month without
their father's warm presence (the youngest, who knows her father only
through his voice on the telephone, will turn eleven years old on New
Years Eve).

Having been uprooted violently and involuntarily from their home and
homeland, the Brkoli family has tried to make the best of their
situation by putting roots down elsewhere. Their inability to be
reunited for well over a decade, though, has hobbled their ability to
support and build meaningful lives for themselves and their children.
The terrifying back-and-forth "game" played with them in the train
station in Kosovo has continued under different guises, even if the
players have not had the same malicious intent. We have faith and
hope that, after examining the facts we have lain out, CIC will see
beyond the syntax of this case to respond to the human toll taken on
this family. Under conditions that would and have left many families
hopeless and bereft, the Brkoli family has persisted. All that they
want is to be allowed to be together and, together, to put the past
behind them in favour of a future, modest as it may be, that they had
reasonably expected for themselves before they became victim to such
ruinous and protracted circumstances.
Â*
Plea to Citizenship and Immigration Canada

As per previous correspondence:
- We are, once again, requesting that Citizenship and Immigration
Canada consider Shukrije Berkolli's application for spousal
sponsorship under Section 25 of the IRPA, as it is in the best
interests of children, and justified by public policy.
- We are requesting that Citizenship and Immigration Canada provide
us with a written response to this letter prior to their specified
deadline for filing appeal.

Plea to the Public and Media

As stated in this letter's opening paragraph, it is the desire of the
Brkoli's to make their arduous plight public knowledge. Part of the
reason for wanting to do so is, obviously, to force CIC to make a
decision in this matter. The other reason is to cause the cessation
of the rumours and untruths their children are exposed to everyday.
Consequently, this letter is being sent to the media, as well as
circulated on the Internet, with the following requests:
- We are requesting that all parties who receive this letter take a
moment to forward it, with comments attached, to the Canadian Minister
of Immigration (see below for contact information).
- We are also requesting that all parties consider communicating this
letter's message to as many people as possible, through any means
available.
Canada's Minister of Immigration can be contacted through the
following means:
Mail - The Honourable Denis Coderre, P.C., M.P.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 1L1
Â*
Email - Minister@cic.gc.ca

If you have any questions, concerns, or words of support, please
feel free to send an email to info@e-ca.ca, or post a message at
http://www.e-ca.ca/WEBSITE2/disc1_toc.htm.

On behalf of Xhevdet, Shukrije, and their children, I wish to thank
everyone for their interest and support.

Sincerely,
Dennis Caul
e-canada
immigration advisory
www.e-ca.ca