Does the Canadian High Commission have a bias against Jamaicans?

Father Ho Lung and his friends have applied for visitor visas for nine of his members to go to Canada for a goodwill tour. It has been two months since the application. The cost of plane tickets has increased, we have tried many times to call the Canadian High Commission authorities and we have even tried to physically visit them in Kingston, but to no avail.

I tried to make an appointment by phone, but we are told that everything has to be done online. We continued to pre-book tickets for our trip to Toronto. We are scheduled to perform on December 15, 2024 from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM at the Saints Peter and Paul Banquet Hall. This is a goodwill concert for the poor. It is a thanksgiving for food, clothing, medicine and a community gathering. In the past, before the COVID-19 pandemic, our performing group had organized many concerts and productions in Canada. On the other hand, Canadians have visited our monasteries and lived with Missionaries of the Poor, and have gone to our apostolate to serve the poor.

Father Ho Lung and Friends is a well-known performing group in Jamaica. Our first overseas tour was in Peterborough, Canada. Then we expanded to Toronto. Now we are known throughout the United States and have performed in Germany, England, Brazil and the Philippines, etc.

In Jamaica we have performed annually at the National Arena since 2000. The audience ranged from 30,000 to 50,000. The productions are mounted with the intention of offering drama with music, dance and theater. We receive assistance with financial resources to provide for the homeless and needy under the pledge of free services. People from the embassies and high commissions have attended our shows.

We have had hundreds of Canadians visit, some of them young people who have said it was a life-changing experience and a wonderful socio-religious exchange. Many containers of food are sent to us from Canada every year, and the poor have been helped enormously. We therefore do not understand why this relationship between Jamaica and Canada, which has been so valuable, now appears to be curtailed. I am surprised that we are being treated like strangers in our efforts to obtain visas for our goodwill tour.

I have been hearing complaints lately from fellow Jamaicans that there seems to be prejudice against Jamaicans when applying for Canadian visas. This is not about people trying to illegally migrate to Canada or export crime and ganja.

The singers in our group are good citizens, Christian people who use their talents every year to help the poor.

There are intelligent, middle-class people who are concerned about the fact that it takes a very long time, sometimes as long as eight to nine months, for their visa applications to be processed. This begs the question: “Does the high commission have a bias against Jamaicans?”

Our experiences and expectations are that Canadians are not an inefficient people, nor are they rude. Yet I feel that there is a purposeful policy that should eliminate Canadian attitudes towards Jamaicans.

By comparison, the visa application process in the United States is the exact opposite.

Jamaica is a small country with too much crime and too much violence. Canada is a big country with fewer problems. We cannot stand apart and alone. We are part of a Western Hemisphere with similar cultures and breathe the same air.

I ask the High Commissioner of Canada to Jamaica, Mark Berman, to tell us what your country’s position is and where you stand.

Father Richard Ho Lung can be reached at 876-550-8987