Family faces deportation, return to Brazil
Twin boys born in Canada can stay, but parents must go
Much of life depends on luck — where you were born, for example. Kyle and Kevin Gutterres, four-year-old twins who live in Richmond Hill, were lucky to have been born in Canada. Their parents were born in Brazil. Now the family is faced with a life-changing challenge. Canada Citizenship and Immigration wants Kyle and Kevin’s parents to leave by June 18.
The kids can stay. Their father, Rafael Gutterres, and mother Danieli Lopez, say they would never return to Brazil and leave their children behind, but Brazil is not where they want them grow up.
They worry their homeland is torn apart by crime, corruption and economic disparity and they are doing everything they can to keep their little family here, waging a battle that has cost them their life savings. If they fail to win their latest appeal to the Canadian government, they face deportation.
“I have worked hard, built a business, employed Canadians, paid all my taxes and have proven that I can be an asset to this beautiful country,” says Gutterres, 31. “I see us as being model immigrants yet we are asked to leave ... But we will never go back to that place. Never.”
Gutterres and Lopez were born and raised in Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. Neither of Lopez’ parents have jobs. Gutterres’ father works, but his mother can’t find employment. There were drug dealers living next door, politicians stealing public money and stories of corruption at all levels. Gutterres and Lopez met through a classmate and fell in love, but jobs were few, far between and often far away.
“We couldn’t afford paying for a wedding, so we started living together in March of 2008,” Gutterres says.
“Later, in 2012, we officially got married, but again, we had no money for a wedding party. Instead, we went out for dinner with a few relatives.” The couple dreamed of raising a family and struggled to better their lot in life, but that seemed impossible.
Canada, they heard, was a place of promise.
As a mechanical technician, he worked in Brazil as a welder, but those skills were not enough for him to find a company to sponsor him to come here, he says. So they decided to try a different way. On Dec. 5, 2012, the couple came to Canada on a visitors visa and never returned home.
“I know it wasn’t right, but we were desperate,” Gutterres says. “We feel sorry for coming illegally, but we did what we thought would be the best thing.”
Gutterres worked at minimum wage in a factory, took on two and three jobs and started a small business, GTA Glass Railings. It employs two to four Canadians directly and more indirectly, he says.
In 2013, Lopez became pregnant.
In 2016, their lawyer filed an application for residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, arguing the couple was deeply integrated in their community through family, church, volunteer activities and friends. Gutterres had formed a business partnership and his company was growing.
In his ruling one year later, senior immigration officer S. Matthew acknowledged crime in Brazil is greater than Canada, but there was no evidence redress would not be available to them. Economic conditions in Brazil may not be as favourable as in Canada, but that didn’t stop Gutterres from finding work there before, he said. As for the kids, he said, children are resilient and adaptable, especially at a young age.
The application was refused. The family was out $7,000. The couple appealed, and was denied again. Now, with the deadline looming, they are giving it one last shot.
It means another $4,900 in legal fees plus $2,000 to to ask for a stay while the new application is processed, but their lawyer, Sanaa Mahmood, believes they have a chance.
She hopes a “fresh set of eyes” will provide a different answer. “I’m quite worried for his family.”
Gutterres says his relatives back home are encouraging them to stay put. They’d like to visit the twins, but tell him, “never come back here to live. Things are tougher than they’ve ever been and it’s getting worse.”