IMMIGRATION REPORTER
An Ajax man mistaken for an illegal immigrant and wrongly deported by Canada is finally home after spending three years in a birthplace he left as a 9-month-old baby.
"I'd lost hope that I'd ever be allowed to come back here," said Tavis Lamprell, 38, who was adopted at birth in Australia and arrived here with his parents in 1971 as a permanent resident. "There is just a rush of emotions right now. It still hasn't sunk in that I'm home."
In 2005, Lamprell was summoned by immigration officials for an interview at the Greater Toronto Enforcement Centre and slapped with a deportation order as a result of several criminal convictions, including an assault involving a girlfriend. The Canada Border Services Agency did not properly verify his immigration status before sending him to Australia in April 2006, separating him from his 12-year-old daughter.
By law, a permanent resident cannot be automatically deported as a result of a conviction, and is entitled to an admissibility hearing before an immigration judge and to be informed of appeal rights.
Lamprell claimed officials refused to look at his old Australian passport from 1971 with the "permanent resident" stamp on it and threatened to throw him in jail.
"I sold everything I had in Canada and left with two suitcases and a carry-on. I didn't know anyone there," recalled a teary Lamprell, who was deported to Sydney.
Lamprell, a roofer by training, had trouble putting bread on the table because his skills and experience working with asphalt and shingles didn't work in Australia, where builders use slates, concrete tiles and steel for roofing. He ended up working part-time as a furniture mover.
Meanwhile, Lamprell kept looking for a way back to Canada and enlisted the help of Toronto immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman through the Internet.
In March 2007, the Canadian Consulate General in Sydney acknowledged an error had been made and Lamprell had been deported by mistake.
Canadian officials told him he would have to apply for a temporary resident permit, authorization to return and to reapply for permanent residence upon his arrival in Canada. However, Waldman successfully asked the Federal Court of Canada to quash the deportation order, which automatically reinstated Lamprell's landed immigrant status.
Lamprell, who returned to Canada on Sept. 1 at the expense of the Canadian government, and his daughter Natasha have filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against the federal government for negligence in handling his deportation.
In its statement of defence, the government says, "At no time during the (deportation) interview did Lamprell ever indicate or suggest that he was a permanent resident, or that there was any error." It argues he has no right to damages because he didn't challenge the deportation order in a timely fashion.
Natasha, now 15, said she suffered depression after her father left. She was cared for in Canada by Lamprell's now ex-girlfriend.
"It was really hard ... I'd lived with my dad for eight years before he left," said Natasha, who spoke with her father by phone once a week and online over the last three years. "I'm just glad he's back."