Tuesday was an emotionally charged day in the home of the Batalla-Charris family. As of this writing the family is still due to show up to the airport in Montreal by 5:15 Wednesday evening to be deported.
“We still have 26 hours,” Carolina Batalla said in an interview Tuesday afternoon. Although both Batalla and her husband Normando Charris have Canadian work permits and are waiting on an application for permanent residency, the family is faced with a return to Spain over the fact that they first came to Canada as refugees. That claim having been denied by the Federal Government, the family and its various advocates shifted their focus to push for either the granting of a Québec selection certificate (CSQ) or a stay from Canada’s Federal Court. “There is hope on all sides” Batalla said, while also pointing out that the family is stuck waiting for news from one party or another. “We have to keep pushing until the last possible second,” said Audrey Pinsonneault who, along with her husband Marc Nadeau, has adopted the cause of standing up for the Batalla-Charris family as her personal mission. “I didn’t know these people a week ago,” Pinsonneault said, sharing that although their children attend the same elementary school, it wasn’t until they heard about the situation on the radio that they got involved. See full story in the Wednesday, Nov. 27 edition of The Record.
