Without a work permit, a family of French immigrants must leave the Gaspé peninsula emergency

News 15 March, 2018
  • Katherine Roy

    Thursday, 15 march 2018 15:57

    UPDATE
    Thursday, 15 march 2018 15:59

    Look at this article

    A family of French immigrants forced to leave the Gaspé peninsula emergency.

    The father has to get back to work quickly after having had to leave her job to Maria, in the absence of a work permit.

    He has waited nearly three months that his former employer to do the formalities with the immigration.

    “From one day to the other, we pay more and we are told that, in fact, you don’t exist in our workforce,” said Philippe Blanchard.

    The French immigrants Philippe, Isabelle Blanchard, and their two girls live a nightmare in the Gaspé peninsula.

    “So, we find ourselves in now, me without a job, my daughter without a job and my wife is getting fired”. He adds: “Because we protested that we had no papers.”

    The French couple had always dreamed of coming to Québec to work and to escape the difficult job market in their country. Quebec said to look to the workforce.

    “It has let pass a dozen years, the girls have grown up. Then I said : “now that they are big, we can go there. Here we go. So, we started the procedure with the Mie True”

    The bakery la Mie Veritable allowed mr. Blanchard to continue his trade of baker. The company has provided him with a work permit. His wife and two daughters have also received the papers needed to immigrate to Quebec. The family arrived in the Gaspé peninsula at the end of August.

    “He had to close the month of January and they were engaged in jobs that lasted longer, until the end of February. I can’t stay two months without working”.

    In front of the constraint, Philippe Blanchard turned to the employer of his wife, the Villa Maria. “I was offered a job, make a driver, a new. I worked as a baker and a cook for them.”

    The employer had not made the request to obtain a work permit for Philippe Blanchard. Contacted on phone, the Villa Maria refuses to comment.

    “We had planned to buy a house because we were all a salary,” laments mr. Blanchard.

    To meet the requirements of the immigration, Philippe Blanchard must quickly return to work. Reluctantly, he moved to Quebec. “We are invested. We lost a lot of money in this story because of the travel, the financial losses and all.”

    Each year, immigrant families turn to the member of parliament for Bonaventure, Sylvain Roy, for assistance with the department of Immigration. “It was maybe 5-6 cases per year and we do what we can”.

    The member of parliament deplores the fact that this skilled workforce may need to sometimes leave the Gaspé peninsula. He asked a regional office of immigration. “They do not take into account the different regions of Quebec realities are completely different. The Gaspé, this is not Montreal in terms of integration “.