The end of this week will mark one month since the Batalla-Charris family was deported to Spain after having their refugee claim denied and, according to family friend Marc Nadeau, they are not without their struggles. “They still haven’t found jobs,” Nadeau said, explaining that as the family has been out of Spain for a number of years, they do not qualify for welfare at this time. Adding that stress to the fact that the family of five with three young children is sharing a small apartment between ten people at the moment, he said that there is a lot of interest in finding a way to get a return to Sherbrooke on track as soon as possible. “Things are difficult,” he said, although framing that feeling within optimism that ongoing fundraising efforts in Canada will be able to help turn things around. “They are following the news with great hope.” Although at the time of their departure from the country Nadeau and his wife Audrey Pinsonneault put a great deal of faith in an ongoing application for citizenship that the family had in progress, the family friend said that they have now gone back to the drawing board and are looking to restart the process of having the Batalla-Charris family apply as economic immigrants. See full story in the Tuesday, Dec. 24 edition of The Record.
