On Wednesday afternoon the Batalla-Charris family made its way to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal to leave the country they have called home for the last five years. Having received word in the morning that the appeal to have a Federal Court judge hear their case had been denied, the family left to fulfill their deportation order still hopeful but less optimistic about a government intervention that would allow them to stay. The family was sent to Spain, where they lived for eight years before coming to Canada and where they will be able to stay with a family member for a few days. In a video message made on the road to the airport and posted on Facebook, family friends Audrey Pinsonneault and Marc Nadeau put out a new call for community support to shift the focus from keeping the family in Canada to getting them back. See full story in the Thursday, Nov. 28 edition of The Record.
