OAKVILLE, Canada. — As Maricon Gerente lay unresponsive in an Oakville hospital bed, an array of IV and feeding tubes keeping her alive, two immigration officials unexpectedly entered the room.
Gerente, the Filipino nanny who dreamed of obtaining her permanent residency and then bringing her two young daughters to Canada, had no idea the first part of her wish was about to come true.
In a rare and possibly unprecedented move, Immigration dispatched two officers to Oakville-Trafalgar Hospital, days after the Star published a story about her tragic circumstances.
A live-in caregiver since 2008, Gerente, 44, has been in a vegetative state after undergoing surgery for a benign brain tumour. She had been waiting for permanent residency since 2011. Two days after she went into a coma, immigration officials attempted to contact her for an interview regarding her application.
Her daughters, Lean, 14, and Saniel, 11, arrived from the Philippines and now face the difficulty of having to remove their mother from life support. They decided to begin that process on May 1, following consultation with doctors and other family members. It was a tough decision to make.
While the young girls waited in a visitors’ lounge outside the hospital room, the two immigration officials lifted Gerente’s hand and, in lieu of her signature, gently inked a fingerprint on the highly coveted landing paper.
Gerente is now officially a permanent resident in Canada. However, the chance of her two young daughters being allowed to remain in Canada is up in the air. Currently, the door remains open only as long as their mother stays alive.
“The right to get permanent resident status for Gerente’s children dies with her,” said Toronto immigration lawyer Guidy Mamann, who is offering free legal help to the family. ### (Mississauga News)