Chesterville’s Chavez family loses bid to stay in Canada, deported to Mexico

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A much-loved family of five in Chesterville have lost their bid to stay in Canada and been deported to Mexico, where they fear being targeted by a notorious criminal cartel.

Ramon Chavez, his wife, Andrea, and their sons, Uriel, 12, Said, 7, and one-year-old Andrew, flew out of Montreal to Cancun, Mexico, on Friday morning.

“It’s really awful,” teacher Jodi Anderson, one of many Chavez family supporters in Chesterville, said Friday after learning of the family’s departure.

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Anderson said the family’s eldest son had been crying for days, while the seven-year-old had been having nightmares about being kidnapped by the drug cartel. “I just feel so sad for them. It doesn’t seem right,” said Anderson.

A Catholic mass was said for the family Thursday at St. Mary of the Presentation, a church that has helped raise money for the family’s unsuccessful fight to stay in Canada as refugees. The Chavez family said goodbye to friends at their apartment in Chesterville later that day.

In an interview Thursday, Anderson appealed to Immigration Minister Marc Miller to intervene on the family’s behalf and to delay their deportation until an appeal in their case can be heard on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

“This is a family who loves Canada, who wants to be here, and has done everything by the book,” she said. “They’re loved by their community, and, truthfully, their children don’t remember what their life was like in Mexico.”

The family does not have a plan as to what they’ll do when they land in Cancun, where they have no family. They have no jobs and no place to stay.

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“They’ve never been to Cancun: They were asking me about the city because I’ve been there before,” Anderson said.

The family’s application for refugee protection and subsequent appeals have all been denied by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

In their application, the family said they operated a small shoe store out of their home in Michoacan, Mexico, and were being extorted by members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a powerful criminal group known for “extreme and public use of violence.”

The refugee board accepted that they were being extorted, but said they did not qualify as convention refugees because they had a safe alternative within Mexico where they could relocate.

A hearings officer with the Refugee Appeal Division said the family could safely live in Mérida, capital of Yucatán state, where the Jalisco cartel is inactive. While such a move might be difficult, the officer said, it was what was required under refugee law.

Ramon Chavez, however, insists that Mérida is also unsafe because of other criminal cartels.

The community of Chesterville, about 60 kilometres southeast of Ottawa, tried to help the family. Teachers at the children’s elementary school and parishioners at the local Catholic church raised money for their legal fees and living expenses.

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The two eldest Chavez children have attended St. Mary’s Catholic School since November 2021. Both are now fluent in English, play soccer, attend church and have well-established networks of friends. The parents held construction-related jobs until their work permits were lifted earlier this year.

According to his refugee application, Ramon Chavez fled Mexico after unsuccessfully appealing for help in defending against extortion by members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

A member of the cartel had demanded the family pay more than one-quarter of their monthly income for protection.

The Chavez family made six payments, but, unable to afford more, they closed their small business and relied on Ramon’s salary as a field worker. They thought that would end the extortion, but the cartel continued to make threats and demand payment, so Ramon went to the police in November 2017.

After the police said they couldn’t help, Chavez fled Mexico and arrived in Canada in February 2018. Meanwhile, Andrea began selling directly to former customers of the shoe business, but in July 2021 the cartel again began making demands, so she took the children and joined her husband in Canada.

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