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Dec 15 2005
A Red Deer couple is flying the burned tatters of a Canadian flag to protest government policies that they say ruined their Christmas.
Christina and Branko Ageljic have been fighting for seven years to bring Branko’s father and mother to Canada for a visit.
Their dream of a Christmas gathering with the relatives from Bosnia were dashed this year by another rejection.
The Ageljics are so frustrated that they burned the flag and raised it to the top of their garage in Rosedale last week.
Then on Monday, Canadian-born Christina was banned from the office of Red Deer MP Bob Mills after a disagreement.
Christina said she was telling Mills’s assistant Jeri Jensen that the MP’s office had failed to help her family and didn’t return calls.
Mills’s long-time assistant Darren Kuz burst into the room, raised his voice and lifted his hand as if to hit her, she said.
“He scared my four-year-old daughter who was with me. She talked about it all night.”
But Kuz said it was Christina who became “belligerent, forceful and loud.”
Kuz said he called police and banned Christina from the office. The RCMP also warned her not to return.
“It was a scary situation. I have been here 12 years and dealt with irate people. She is in the top 10,” said Kuz.
Christina said she was utterly disappointed because she felt her country let her down.
“I was born and raised in Canada, and I’m not proud of this place,” she said.
“I thought Canada was a place of peace and assisting people in trouble or need. But Canada punishes people who ask for help.”
Christina was hoping a large family gathering at Christmas would reunite the family. Her two children have never gotten to know their Croatian grandparents.
Her husband’s parents and possibly his brother planned to visit for as long as six weeks over the holidays, she said.
Kuz said it’s a case of the government not trusting that the family will leave.
There is a suspicion they would seek refugee status. The government would turn them down, but court appeals could take years and end up costing thousands of dollars.
In 1993, Branko Ageljic’s mother Ivica and her 13-year-old daughter visited Canada. Typical visitation visas expire in six months, so the mother and daughter claimed refugee status because a war had broken out in Bosnia.
They received refugee status as well as $500 to $600 per month in government assistance to get on their feet, said Christina.
They lived with Christina and her husband, and the money helped to rent a larger home in Surrey, B.C., where they resided at the time.
After three years in Canada, Ivica and her daughter returned to Bosnia because the violence had decreased, said Christina.
But the government found it odd that Ivica would return so quickly to a place she feared and questioned her refugee claim, said Kuz.
Refugee status is granted for people deemed to be at risk in their home country.
Ivica, who spoke no English, had not received permanent residency status, which would have allowed her to spend time outside Canada.
Christina said Ivica had never intended to stay in Canada and leave behind her family farm and husband in Bosnia.
A lawyer had advised Ivica to seek refugee status, so she could stay until she felt it was safe to return, said Christina.
“She did not realize she could never come back and visit her family again.”
Kuz said Ivica applied for refugee status again in 1997, while in Bosnia, but Christina has no knowledge of it.
Since then, requests by Ivica and her husband to visit Canada have been rejected several times, said Christina. Branko’s brother has also been turned down.
Branko is a Canadian citizen who immigrated in 1989.
Christina said she is willing to do anything — including putting up their house as collateral — to guarantee that her relatives will leave.
She said the war is over in Bosnia and it’s more peaceful. So, claiming refugee status now would be difficult.
But Kuz said Christina should take her fight to Immigration Minister Joe Volpe or wait until after the federal election to talk to the new immigration minister.
Christina said she has repeatedly tried to contact Volpe and received no response in seven years.
Kuz said Mills’s staff contacted the minister in previous years about the concerns.
“It’s the minister who has the power. Bob (Mills) has no power over the Immigration Department,” said Kuz.
By andrea miller
Advocate staff
Photos by DAVE OLECKO, JERRY GERLING
/Advocate staff
Christina and Branko Ageljic with the burned flag on the garage roof of their Red Deer home: fighting with Immigration Canada over a visit by Branko's parents.