Stateless man still waiting for recognition

While Canada prepares to welcome thousands of Syrian refugees over the next weeks, Qia Gunster is still waiting for his country to recognize his existence so he can get on with his life.

The 20-year-old Prince George resident has been caught in a bureaucratic noose that has grown tighter since he turned 18. Despite help from friends and family and teachers, Gunster remains in limbo as a “stateless person” in Canada with fewer rights than Syrian refugees will arrive with.

“Basically I am being told I have no right to live,” Gunster said.

“It’s ridiculous – I can’t work, I can’t drive, I can’t stay and I can’t leave.”

He is not the only stateless person in the country. In 2007, Canada’s citizenship and immigration minister estimated the government knew of about 450 cases of “lost Canadians.” That same year, a CBC investigation suggested the country may be home for as many as 200,000.

For Gunster, the problem has been acquiring a birth certificate.

He was born on a couch in Tucson, Ariz. and his mother did not register his birth. When he was 18 months old, Gunster’s mom crossed the border into B.C. – it was a time before the 9/11 terror attacks and heightened border security – and took her baby to McBride,where she had connections.

Michelle Quigg, who is Gunster’s lawyer, believes his mom feared authorities would take her baby away so she gave birth at home and took him out of the country.

In McBride, the small community embraced the baby, who was left behind when his mom returned to the U.S. The boy was raised by a friend of a friend, Eric Gunster, in a house with four other kids and when he was about 11 years old, he moved in with another family in the eastern B.C. town. It was difficult childhood, but Gunster won the hearts of everyone who got to know him.

“I am always there for Qia – he’s amazing,” said Derrick Shaw, principal of McBride Secondary who has known Gunster since he was in Grade 8.

“That he tries to make something happen without getting into trouble is incredible. He has so much resilience, and patience.

“There are many layers of tragedy in his life story, but he smiles all the time. He chooses to see the positive.”

Being without ID wasn’t a problem for many years. Gunster was home-schooled, and if he had to see a doctor, Eric paid cash. But when he was 16 and his adoptive brothers were getting driver’s licences, Gunster was left behind.

It has become an overwhelming barrier to his life since he finished high school.

“You need ID for almost everything,” Gunster said. “I can’t get a social insurance number, so I’m not supposed to work. I can’t get a driver’s licence, I can’t get a credit card. I can’t go to a bar, and try getting a hotel room – the first thing they ask for is a credit card. I can’t travel. The only thing I can do is buy food – you don’t need ID for that.”

His high school principal got involved, and his adoptive families have tried to help. Even the local MP, Bob Zimmer, contacted Arizona government officials in an attempt to get Gunster a birth certificate. Despite stacks of paperwork, and a DNA test proving he is the son of an Arizona resident, the state has so far refused to issue the document.

“Everywhere he turns, people are basically telling him he doesn’t exist, yet he has faith and confidence in the Canadian system,” Shaw said.

“I am not a proud Canadian, knowing about this.”

Gunster’s community of supporters has done everything they can, Shaw said.

“Look at the Syrian refugees – how many are coming in without paperwork?” he said. “This kid has been here since he was a year and a half old. I understand there’s a process, but we’ve followed it.”

Despite having no legal way to work, Gunster – with help from his supporters – has been able to earn a living. He is halfway through his apprenticeship as an electrician and finds employers willing to pay in cash. But he doesn’t want to live this way. He wants the freedom to work and collect benefits, and pay taxes like every other Canadian.

“I just want to get on with my life,” he said. “I just want to be legal.” Quigg, a lawyer with North Vancouver-based Access Pro Bono, got involved with Gunster’s case a couple of months ago, after learning about it from Don Chapman, another former stateless person.

She filed an Access to Information request with the federal government to see Gunster’s immigration file and learned officials believe there is sufficient humanitarian and compassionate reasons to grant “first stage approval.”

In response to a request for comment, Citizenship and Immigration Canada confirmed by email that Gunster is eligible for permanent residence on compassionate grounds, but “he now needs to provide his birth certificate and the results of a medical examination. We understand, however, that while Mr. Gunster has made significant efforts to obtain a birth certificate, he has not yet been able to do so,” the email said.

Last month, Quigg sent another letter to Arizona authorities hoping to find out if Gunster’s many applications for a state birth certificate have been rejected.

She will then ask authorities to grant Gunster citizenship under a section of the Immigration Act that allows for “exceptional circumstances.”