Just a few days after her wedding, Ottawa immigration lawyer Deidre Powell is at the mercy of a COVID-19 lab waiting to be taken to church on time, a church 12,000 kilometers away in Uganda.
“What a drama! Powell said with a laugh afterwards even though everything was sealed after a frantic weekend suffering from foreign bureaucracy, airline regulations and Ontario’s chaotic COVID testing system. “My total circle of relatives was telling me, “You have to calm down. You’re going crazy. “
Powell, a Canadian citizen of Jamaica, and her long-time husband, a Ugandan, had planned to marry in Jamaica, but her fiancé was unable to get a visa, so they moved the wedding to Uganda.
Powell departed Ottawa last Saturday on a flight to Toronto to join an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Uganda Addis Abbaba. He carried with him the negative result of the COVID-19 check he won on Wednesday, September 30 from a patron taken in Ottawa on Sunday. On September 27, but when he arrived in Toronto, EAL refused to allow him to board his flight to Africa. Uganda calls for other people to have negative CONTROL of COVID-19 within 72 hours of taking the swab.
Frantic, Powell attempted to locate a verification site in Toronto, but in the confusion surrounding Ontario’s verification protocols last weekend, no one responded to his phone calls or emails.
“You don’t have to see how he saw me on Saturday,” Powell said, nevertheless, able to laugh at his ordeful experience a few days later. “There was an Air Canada gentleman named Michael, he was very kind. He helped me. I encourage myself. She brought me tea while I was sitting on the floor crying. I’m sitting here crying. I’m a lawyer and I’m in trouble. “
With the features available, Powell bought a plane ticketing house and returned to Ottawa. He went to a verification center and rejected the application because he was in poor health and Ontario had stopped checking out asymptomatic people. I don’t have any vacancies until Thursday.
Meanwhile, Powell’s fiancé had discovered a personal clinic in Montreal that guaranteed effects within 48 hours and had booked him an appointment on Monday morning. Powell, herself, controlled to make an online appointment for the Coventry Road Driving Clinic in Ottawa on Monday afternoon as an additional precaution.
She went to Montreal on Monday at five in the morning and was the first in line for a patron at the clinic, who charged him $17 and five. He then returned to Ottawa and cleaned up on Coventry Road on Monday afternoon. By this time, Ottawa clinics had stopped rubbing asymptomatic people, but Powell had booked his check before the new regulations came into effect.
But at the Clinic in Ottawa he was told that he might not get his effects for five or seven days, after his wedding day, so it is based on the Montreal clinic’s loyalty to his word.
“The gentleman at the end of the tunnel is this personal company in Montreal. They gave me the assurance that I would have it within 48 hours. It is expensive, but at least it gives me hope of being able to move to Uganda,” he said. He said.
But the horrfiable experience and confusing messages about who can and cannot be examined at Ontario’s test centers have added tension to Powell, who at his law firm is helping new Canadians navigate the difficult to understand immigration regulations in this country.
“All my crying and panic doesn’t get me anywhere,” Powell said. “Do you know how frustrating it is? I think I’m going to go through this scenario so I can perceive my clients, so I can perceive what it’s like to be an immigrant. “
“It’s no one’s fault, however, I think not being sure when you get your effects is a genuine problem. Are we asking too much of our public formula to give that?
Sign up for news from Ottawa Citizen, a department of Postmedia Network Inc.
An error has occurred, please provide a valid email address.
A welcome email is on its way. If you don’t see it, check your unwanted folder.
The next ottawa Citizen Headline News factor will soon be in your inbox.
We found a challenge when you signed up. Please check again
Postmedia is committed to maintaining an even civil discussion forum and encouraging all readers to express their views on our articles. Comments can take up to an hour to moderate before appearing on the site. We ask that you keep your comments applicable and respectful. I’ve enabled email notifications. You will now receive an email if you get a reaction to your comment, an update to a comment thread that follows, or if a user follows it. See our network regulations for more data and key points on how to adjust your email settings.
365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4
© 2020 Ottawa Citizen, a department of Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized broadcast, transmission or transmission is strictly prohibited.
This uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads) and allows us to analyze our traffic. Learn more about cookies here. By using our site, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.