Massimo Marti telephones his family in Italy with good news.
It was a verdict Massimo Marti was relieved to hear.
The Italian immigrant, who faced deportation after the government declared him to be working illegally in his Preston Street bakery, was cleared by an Immigration Appeal Division member at a hearing earlier this week.
Member Yves Dumoulin announced his decision via video conference from Montreal after a lengthy hearing and a two-hour deliberation. The verdict means the 39-year-old Marti will not face deportation, as his wife and four children did. The family, which included children ranging in age from three to eight, was forced to return to Italy on March 1 after their temporary resident status expired.
Marti, who’s been in regular contact with his family since their emotional goodbye, left the hearing with a big smile, surrounded by his lawyer and friends.
“I am very happy,” he said in broken English. “I thank everybody, Canadian or not Canadian, who supported me and my family. Thank you.”
Julie Taub, Marti’s immigration lawyer, says her client’s case was “incredibly complex” and the hearing ultimately came down to what the Immigration Appeal Division constituted as work.
According to a statement of facts presented during the hearing, Marti, who is a specialized Calabrese baker, had obtained a work permit in January 2011 to work at De Santino Ristorante.Soon after, he became co-owner of Little Italy Bakery on Preston Street. But when his work permit expired in December 2011 and his application for a renewal was denied on June 19, 2012, because it was sent to the wrong place, Marti found himself without a permit but with a business that still needed to run.
In a small bakery that had trouble with employee turnover, it was not uncommon, according to Canada Boarder Services Agency, to see Marti baking, serving customers and even going on delivery runs to pick up the slack. The activities were considered to be an infraction of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
According to the act, an activity may be considered work if wages are earned or if it is in direct competition with Canadian citizens or permanent residents seeking to do the same activity.
Dumoulin explained that because Marti had not been earning a salary since his permit had expired, his case hinged on the second aspect of the definition. The government argued that because Marti’s involvement with the bakery extended beyond his specialisation into activities a normal Canadian citizen looking for work could do, he was in direct competition with the local labour market.
Dumoulin, however, sided with Marti and Taub who argued that a Labour Market Opinion obtained from Citizenship and Immigration Canada shortly after Marti’s second work permit was denied, shows that Marti’s skills in Calabrese baking were something that no one else in the market possessed and his other activities did not extend beyond his role as a co-owner of a small establishment.
“I was flabbergasted by the whole situation,” Dumoulin said of the verdict. “I’m led to believe the only reason we’re here today is because (Marti) sent his application to the wrong place…”
Marti can now re-apply for a work permit and then apply for an authorization for his family to return to Canada, cutting short their one-year expulsion from the country.
Although the minister of immigration may appeal the decision, Marti says he’s focused on one thing: “The only thing I’m thinking about is getting my family back to Canada. I just want a better future for my children.”