Stop the deportation of Vangie and McKenna Rose

KEEP McKENNA HEALTHY

Canadian citizen, 6 year old McKenna Rose will be deported to the Philippines on July 8, 2022, with her mom Evangeline (Vangie) Cayanan. Mckenna needs ongoing healthcare that she won't be able to get if she is deported.

Take Action Now! We are calling on Ministers Marco Mendicino and Sean Fraser to stop their deportation, and grant them permanent resident status through their pending humanitarian and compassionate application.

BACKGROUND

McKenna was diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other medical conditions that require special attention and minimal stress. Her pending deportation has already thrown McKenna into crisis which will get worse if she’s deported to a place where she doesn’t speak the language, doesn’t know anyone and she has never been to.

Vangie, McKenna’s mother, has been in Canada for over 12 years. Her employers harassed, abused and assaulted her. They promised to regularlize her status as a strategy to further exploit her. But Vangie never gave up. Despite being undocumented in Canada, she waged a campaign for McKenna, and other Canadian citizen children of undocumented people, access to healthcare. She won. In 2017, Alberta extended access to healthcare to McKenna and others. As a result, she was granted the Human Rights Award from the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights.

And now the federal government is tearing McKenna away from the same healthcare her mom, and her community so bravely fought for and won. Despite these challenges, Vangie continues to be an active member of Migrante Alberta’s Serve The People project which delivers care packages and informational workshops to precarious workers and other undocumented migrants impacted by COVID-19.

That’s not fair. Take action now to keep McKenna and Vangie in her community. Send a letter to the Ministers right now. Time is running out and they need to hear from you. Join us to

demand full and permanent immigration status for all migrants.

You can also:

Get your organization (Or organization you know) and your MLAs and MPs to write a letter to the Immigration Minister
Donate to the Vangie and McKenna Support Fund (migrantealberta@gmail.com)

For more information: migrantealberta@gmail.com

Vangie

Vangie was a migrant worker who lost status in 2015 because of abusive employers. Her employers used her but failed to keep their promise to help her stay. While trying to pursue pathways for her to stay, Vangie gave birth to her lovely daughter McKenna Rose. With the precariousness of her immigration status, she struggled so much as a single mother, working to survive and care for her daughter.

Despite her situation Vangie chose to be an active volunteer in the community. She is an active member of Migrate Alberta, volunteered with the food bank and her church. In 2016, Vangie along with her organization started the McKenna Rose campaign, a public campaign for Canadian born children of undocumented parents to access healthcare in Alberta. It was a successful campaign that since 2017, many other children are benefitting from it to this day. Through that work she received a Human Rights Award from the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights.

McKenna Rose

McKenna is a happy and smart little girl. She is very sociable and loves school. In 2021, McKenna was diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), behavioral conditions that need special attention and minimal stress especially at her age. Given this recent diagnosis, getting deported to an urban poor community in the Philippines with Vangie's family, who are virtually strangers to McKennna, will exacerbate McKenna’s condition. She was born in Canada and it’s the only home she knows. Living conditions in the Philippines are far different from what she’s familiar with. She does not speak the language and would not be able to access any social and health services she would need specially for her difficult diagnosis.