An Okotoks high school student was home for Christmas and with the comfort of knowing she is in Canada to stay.
“I am really happy that I got my permanent residency on Nov. 13,” said Kitti Toris, a Grade 12 student at Holy Trinity Academy. “We are just all happy that the pressure is off our shoulders.”
It is a whole different feeling as compared to December 2019 when Kitti and her Okotoks family received a letter from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, informing her that her application for a study permit had been denied and that her temporary resident status had expired.
“You are now a person without status in Canada and as such, you are required to leave Canada forthwith,” the letter stated. “Failure to do so could result in enforcement action being taken against you.
“You are required to provide this office with a non-refundable airline ticket forthwith.”
It rocked Kitti and her guardians, Laszlo and Viktoria Radi, who own and operate the Heartland Restaurant in Okotoks.
“Last year, we received the letter on Dec. 5 and that definitely put a lot of pressure on mine and my family’s shoulders,” Kitti said.
Toris, who was born in Hungary, has been in Canada since 2016 living with Laszlo and Viktoria Radi.
Laszlo and Viktoria became legal guardians of Toris while living in Hungary. The couple moved to Canada in 2015 and Kitti joined them shortly thereafter. They currently live southwest of Okotoks.
Laszlo moved to Canada in 1989, shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain. He is a Canadian citizen. Viktoria is a permanent resident and is Kitti's half-sister.
Shortly after receiving the letter about deportation, the Radis contacted Foothills MP John Barlow for assistance.
Barlow approached Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino in mid December 2019 asking for assistance in the Toris’ matter.
“He reached out to a lot of people to solve my case,” Toris said. “John Barlow and his office couldn’t be more helpful... I owe them a big one.”
Barlow said it was a team effort from the Foothills office staff.
“Eleanor MacDonald does all the case work and she worked diligently with Canadian Immigration to get Kitti’s application through – whatever different avenue you can think of," Barlow said. “We did come up with some bumps in the road and I did take the opportunity to talk to the minister after question period and told him about the situation.
“Yes, there is partisanship in Ottawa, but when these kinds of situations come up you put any differences aside and work together for what is clearly a common-sense issue that needed to be resolved.
“It took time, but we are obviously happy with the end result.”
He said MacDonald dealt with authorities in Europe and Canada in assisting with Toris' case.
Any deportation was put on hold and in 2020, the Radis had to sit and wait. That made for a long winter in the midst of a family trying to maintain a high-end restaurant during a pandemic and Kitti having to take school at home after March 15.
“I was hoping, but I wasn’t confident,” Toris said. “We didn’t get any follow-up letters, so I was just waiting and hoping to get it, which I did and I am very thankful for that.
“But it definitely was a stressful time, not knowing where my papers are and how the process was coming along.”
She said with the pandemic in the background only added to her worries.
“I was even more worried when COVID hit because I wasn’t sure whether they were still going to deport me,” Toris said. “And if so, how was that going to work because the airports were shutting down.”
She said staff and friends at HTA as well as the Okotoks community helped her over the past month.
“A lot of residents were praying for me to get my papers and to stay healthy during this COVID time,” Toris said. “I appreciate all the support I got from the community as well.”
Kitti receiving her permanent resident status was an exciting – and surprising - early Christmas present for the Radis.
"We did so many applications and one of those was for permanent resident status,” Laszlo said. “Finally, they decided to do it.”
She now is considering becoming a Canadian citizen.
“That is big to get another citizenship,” Toris said. “I would like to get it at some point. It would be an honour. I love Canada, I love Canadian culture, Canadian people.
“I am grateful to be here.”
