It's tearful goodbyes for Jenny Passaris (right), as she has to say goodbye to friends she made in Canada as she looks to find a different country to settle down.

By Tommy Osborne

Immigration

“Government doesn’t want us:” Prince George couple leaving Canada after years of being denied permanent residency

Mar 19, 2025 | 5:49 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Four years ago, Jenny Passaris and Petrus Rheeder arrived to Canada with the hopes of making it their long term home and establish some roots in Prince George. However, after years of trying to acquire permanent residency (PR) and going through many layers of governmental red tape, they find themselves still without PR status and now, are being forced to look elsewhere to settle down for good.

“I just feel sad that the country is doing this to us and we need to make a choice and move on because government doesn’t want us,” Passaris said.

“I’m contributing to the economy, I’m good enough for that. But I’m not good enough to have permanent residency in Canada. So without permanent residency, I can’t even become a Canadian,” Rheeder added.

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Since moving here four years ago on a work permit, Rheeder said both he and Passaris have never had any run-ins with law enforcement, have always paid their taxes, and have been productive members of the community. When they initially moved in 2021, they actually had enough points under the BC Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) and the Government of Canada’s Comprehensive Ranking System, which determines if you are eligible to apply for permanent residency. However, despite being productive community members and having come to Canada eligible for PR status, they say the goalposts have been continually shifted, keeping it out of reach since they arrived.

“We’re still sitting on the same process with work permits. At this point the the score is too high, the point system which is beyond our reach. So we can’t even qualify for BCPNP, so that forces me to stay in a work situation, be controlled by the IRCC (Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada,” Rheeder said.

One big reason as to why they find themselves in this situation is their kids, as Passaris has two adult children, while Rheeder has an eleven year old daughter of his own. However, Rheeder explained after obtaining legal counsel it was determined that the daughter can stay, although Passaris and her 19 year old daughter and 25 year old son were a heavy point of emphasis of the government, according to Passaris and Rheeder.

“The PR got denied because of the kids. They wanted police clearances and all of that in which we were saying, ‘the kids doesn’t want to do it. They don’t want to be part of the whole immigration process,’ and you can’t prove it because it’s a human right, you can’t force someone to give information if they’re not willing to do that. We’ve drafted letters through the attorneys, we submitted it, it still got denied,” Rheeder said.

“I do understand the children are the future, but if my kids don’t have any interest in coming to Canada or ever, now or in the future, why must I force them? I can’t force them, I can’t force you to do something, so why must I force them?” Passaris said.

“It was only me and her (Passaris) that did the original application to come to Canada. We were good enough to come to Canada. Like I was saying to the agents: our previous marriages has been discarded for how many years? We don’t have communication,” Rheeder continued.

What’s happened to Rheeder and Passaris has been described as heartbreaking from some who know them, including Tim and Therese Clark, two very close friends who Rheeder and Passaris have grown to call “their Canadian mom and dad.”

“It doesn’t make a person proud to be Canadian when when they do things like that,” Therese said, regarding the situation in which Passaris and Rheeder have had to leave the country.

“I’m embarrassed. I’m embarrassed to be a Canadian over what we’ve seen and what they’ve gone through. It’s not fair, it’s not right,” Tim added.

The Clarks add it’s a big blow to our community to see two people who are well liked and contribute to society leave due to governmental red tape, something they, alongside Passaris and Rheeder, hope never happens again to other people in similar situations.

“There’s not been one (person) that could ever say anything bad about them, it’s impossible,” Tim said.

During their four year journey of trying to get PR status Rheeder and Passaris explored just about every avenue possible, including but not limited to:

• Multiple federal cabinet ministers in charge of immigration, such as former Ministers Sean Fraser and Marc Miller
• The office of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
• Prince George City Council, including Mayor Simon Yu

“Every person we reached out to just came back and said refer to IRCC. Not one of them came up and said ‘we’ll help get you in the right direction, or let’s take your case as an individual situation and we will help you to get this sorted.’ Not one person has ever come back,” Rheeder said.

MLA for Prince George-Valemount Rosalyn Bird was another elected official who they reached out to, and while immigration is a federal government responsibility, Bird explains she still tried to help wherever she could as a provincial representative, which primarily meant connecting them with the federal representatives.

“Anybody that phones our office that has an issue that falls federally, we are happy to reach out to the office and connect them with those individuals, and it goes the same way if somebody calls Bob (Zimmer’s) or Todd (Doherty’s) office and it’s a provincial issue, then they reach out to our office,” Bird explained.

“These are two individuals that Prince George can’t really afford to lose. They would be welcome in any community, they’re hard working people, they did what they could in order to get their permanent resident status,” she continued.

Ultimately, Passaris and Rheeder say the continual declining of PR status, changing goalposts and standards, and unnecessary amounts of red tape, such as having to do an English language test five times in four years despite passing them all, became too much to overcome for community members who were looking for security and a place to establish some roots, leading to the decision to move in just a couple weeks time.

“It’s such a beautiful country, it’s such a beautiful place, but it’s sad. And I’m not the only person that feels this way. I know of Canadians who are packing up and leaving the country because of all this that’s happening. And I think if Canada doesn’t look at it in the future, Canada is going to have some problems,” Rheeder said.

CKPG News reached out to the IRCC, but did not receive a statement by the deadline.

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