by Mark Daly

Wilson Ngo is a hard working, trilingual, Canadian citizen living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. A former refugee from the camps here in Hong Kong he must not be too impressed with the bureaucracy that is preventing his wife from joining him. Mai Thi Lan, Mr. Ngo’s wife, continues to languish in Whitehead Detention Centre in Hong Kong while Mr. Ngo, her husband and Canadian visa sponsor, wonders when she will ever be able to join him.

The circumstances surrounding Mrs. Mai’s continuing detention in Hong Kong are regrettable. In compliance with current Canadian policy, Mrs. Mai agreed to voluntarily return to Vietnam to pursue her immigrant visa application through the Canadian Orderly Departure Program. Despite having volunteered over one year ago, Mrs. Mai remains in the squalor of the detention centre because the Vietnam government has not “cleared” her for return. The usual waiting period for return to Vietnam once one decides to volunteer is 2 to 4 weeks. There is little that she, the UNHCR or the Hong Kong government can do to effectuate her removal from Hong Kong. Canada’s policy of requiring her first to return to Vietnam has resulted in undue hardship and prolonged separation from her loved one. I am told that she is the only person out of approximately 60 screened-out Vietnamese applicants for Canadian visas who tried to “Vol Rep” in accordance with Canadian policy. Even if she was somehow cleared for return how long would it take to process her visa from Vietnam? What would she do there? She has been in the camps in Hong Kong for over 5 years.

Certainly an exception should be made in this extraordinary case and Canada should process her visa from Hong Kong. In the interests of justice, Mrs. Mai should not have to spend a further and indefinite period in the inhumane and lonely conditions of the detention camps when time has demonstrated that she will not be permitted to return to Vietnam.