“I have hope, but not soon”: a French couple forced to leave the country

This holiday season, a French couple from Granby doesn't have the heart to celebrate when they are forced to leave the country. The community mourns their departure and hopes for a Christmas miracle to save the business that Sophie Granet and Joseph Lévêque run on the main street.

If nothing changes, the couple who run the Tartes et Clafoutis bakery will have to close their business. The pastry chef, Joseph Lévêque, could be expelled from the country on January 2. He, his wife and their child will have to pack up.

What that implies is that you have to sell everything, you have to leave the country so you have to pack your boxesindicates Mr. Lévêque.

We are applying for permanent residence because we want to stay there!

Sophie and Joseph have been living in Quebec with their child for four years and have taken over a bakery on the main street of Granby. They made this place their home for winter, for the beauty of the seasons, for wide open spaces and also for taxation and the gentleness of the populationunderlines Joseph Lévêque’s wife, Sophie Granet. She is the owner and manager of the bakery.

With this strong desire to stay, the couple applied in the fall of 2023, as their work permit expired in December. While waiting for a response, Joseph thought he could continue working.

The application for permanent residence gave us continuity in the territory, so we could stay in the territory, but we did not have the right to work.

The couple learned this the hard way. After a few months, they were refused permanent residence due to an administrative error. They then applied for a work permit while continuing to live their daily lives. Joseph and Sophie went to customs to finalize their paperwork at the beginning of the month.

They had to issue us this work permit with the documents we had, so acceptance from Quebec and the federal government had to be a formality. […] It was quite simply: ''you are illegal in the territory'' Oh well, illegal in the territory? Yes, the fact of having worked without a work permit, I did not fit into the boxesexplains Mr. Lévêque.

What we deplore are the processing times that are far too long. Thirteen months to come to a status is too long. Indeed, we are obliged to work in continuitydenounces Sophie Granet.

A mobilized community

When questioned, the federal MP for Shefford, Andréanne Larouche, hopes that Ministers Leblanc and Miller will be able to cancel the removal order targeting the couple and issue a temporary residence permit. At this stage, all that can save the couple is for ministers to exercise their discretionshe declares.

The community is mobilized and always hopes that the tide will turn to keep their friends and a meeting place.

They tick all the right boxes. It's like “Hello!” It's a bad dream, we'll wake up to say it's a nightmaredeplores a customer.

I find it so sad and a shame that we fire people for administrative things and everything while there are people who stay who do something else very illegal and everything.adds another.

By email, the Department of Immigration confirms that a temporary resident must renew their work permit, before it expires, while waiting for a decision to be made regarding their permanent residence.