Jalandhar-born Canadian minister in soup over visa letters
Jinny Sims, minister in British Columbia province, sponsored 10 people from Pak, 3 of whom were on a watch list
TORONTO: A provincial minister of Punjab-origin is in the midst of a controversy after writing letters supporting visa applications of ten Pakistani nationals, including three who were on an American security watch list.
Jinny Sims, minister of citizens’ services in the government of the province of British Columbia or BC, wrote these letters earlier this year, but said she withdrew them once the local MP informed her office of the security concerns regarding some of the applicants from Pakistan.
This information came to the fore after a former aide, identified as Kate Gillie, emailed a complaint to the office of the province’s premiere (equivalent of a chief minister in India).
After severe criticism from the opposition, including calls for her removal from the provincial cabinet, Sims told reporters in Victoria, the capital of BC, that she knew “the people who are sponsoring them, and in this case I knew some of the people who were coming. And as soon as the MP told me what some of the issues were, I let them know I no longer was interested in pursuing that.” Since immigration is a federal matter, such requests backing visa applications are usually routed from the local MP’s office, as in this case.
Gillie, the former constituency staffer for Sims, worked briefly in the MLA office earlier this year before being fired. She also alleged in her email that the visiting Pakistanis had promised money to her Sims’ campaign. Sims denied that allegation, as she told the media, “Absolutely, I have taken no money.”
In her letter supporting the visa applications, Sims wrote: “I ask these visas be expedited and I take full responsibility for their return to Pakistan... I hold employment as the member of the legislative assembly for Surrey-Panorama and the minister of citizens’ services for British Columbia,” according to a report in the daily, Vancouver Sun.
Sims, who was born in Jalandhar in India, was an MP from 2011 to 2015, and she explained she would write such letters supporting visa applications at that time. She was elected to the BC legislature in the summer of 2017 and subsequently appointed to the cabinet of the newly-formed New Democratic Party government in the province.