Dozens of friends and relatives of Veasna Vonn gather in a home on Finn Court to mourn and pray after news of his death on Sunday April 2, 2006. Vonn was awaiting approval to immigrate to Canada to be with his sister when he died mysteriously in his sleep after a party in Phnom-Penh, Cambodia. (Ottawa Sun photo by Blair Gable)TWO ORANGE-ROBED Hinayana Buddhist monks, heads shaved and cross-legged, offered prayers to the dead inside Sophia Vonn's suburban living room.
To their left was a small table with statuettes of Buddha, a plate of rice and a bowl of soup, andto their right was a large photo of Sophia's brother Veasna Vonn, 22.
Veasna was found dead in a friend's home April 4 in Phnom Penh after a night of celebrating the Ching Ming, a Chinese festival. Police said there was no foul play involved, but nagging doubts remain.
Sophia, 43, and her supporters believe corruption at the Canadian embassy in Cambodia kept Veasna from coming to Canada.
"If they would have let my brother into Canada he would not have died. For sure he would not have died," said Sophia, sitting on a leather couch inside a spacious home on Finn Ct. filled with members from the local Cambodian community who gathered Sunday for the memorial service.
In the kitchen, women prepared green papaya and banana blossom salads, curried pork, roast chicken and seafood soup garnished with special herbs of subtle powers.
Food to dry tears, while the monks in the living room spoke of life overshadowing death.
But little could console Sophia. She had been fighting since 1998 to bring her brother to Canada and for a while it seemed like her efforts had paid off. Veasna was planning to come this summer after a federal court paved his way in January by dismissing a Citizenship and Immigration Canada request for judicial review of a 2005 Immigration and Refugee Board decision.
But it should never have come to that, Sophia believes. Citizenship and Immigration Canada based their decision to reject Veasna's application on false allegations that came the same month he rejected a payoff request, documents show.
Sophia's brother-in-law, Ou Ravath filed an affidavit claiming that in early October 2001, he was approached by "persons" claiming to be from the Canadian embassy who had Veasna's file. They wanted $2,000 US to process and expedite the application. The offer was refused. That same month, the Canadian High Commission in Singapore received an e-mail from an official at the Cambodian Canadian embassy claiming Veasna had faked his parents' death certificates.
CREDIBILITY QUESTIONED
Under Canadian immigration rules, siblings cannot be sponsored unless they are orphans.
"It did appear to be linked," said Sophia's lawyer, Silvia Maciunas. "But that wasn't for us to decide."
CIC refused to comment on the issue.
In its written decision, the Immigration and Refugee Board's appeal division questioned the credibility of Penneth Chheng, an official with the Canadian embassy in Cambodia and the source of the e-mail.
In an e-mail to immigration officials sent Oct. 25, 2001, Chheng claimed a high-ranking Cambodian official rejected the Vonns' parents' death certificates as fakes.
"The chief of Sangkat Chormchao has been refused that the document is not official and not issued by them (sic)," wrote Chheng.
Mick Chong, visa officer at the Singapore Canadian High Commission, used Chheng's e-mail to reject Veasna's application.
"On 25 October 2001, we were informed that the death certificates you provided is not officially issued," wrote Chong, in a Feb. 7, 2002 letter to Veasna.
But a Cambodian official, Soth Sath, chief of the Chormchao Quarter, told the appeal division that the certificates were legitimate. He also filed an affidavit in 2002 saying no Canadian embassy official was ever told they were fake.
Sophia wrote to then-Liberal Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan in November 2001 about the October bribery attempt, but received no reply. The RCMP was also contacted, but nothing came of it.
The Vonns' story is part of a wider problem, according to some.
"There are so many holes in the system," said Thao Doung, with the Catholic Immigration Centre.
jorge.barrera@ott.sunpub.com
To their left was a small table with statuettes of Buddha, a plate of rice and a bowl of soup, andto their right was a large photo of Sophia's brother Veasna Vonn, 22.
Veasna was found dead in a friend's home April 4 in Phnom Penh after a night of celebrating the Ching Ming, a Chinese festival. Police said there was no foul play involved, but nagging doubts remain.
Sophia, 43, and her supporters believe corruption at the Canadian embassy in Cambodia kept Veasna from coming to Canada.
"If they would have let my brother into Canada he would not have died. For sure he would not have died," said Sophia, sitting on a leather couch inside a spacious home on Finn Ct. filled with members from the local Cambodian community who gathered Sunday for the memorial service.
In the kitchen, women prepared green papaya and banana blossom salads, curried pork, roast chicken and seafood soup garnished with special herbs of subtle powers.
Food to dry tears, while the monks in the living room spoke of life overshadowing death.
But little could console Sophia. She had been fighting since 1998 to bring her brother to Canada and for a while it seemed like her efforts had paid off. Veasna was planning to come this summer after a federal court paved his way in January by dismissing a Citizenship and Immigration Canada request for judicial review of a 2005 Immigration and Refugee Board decision.
But it should never have come to that, Sophia believes. Citizenship and Immigration Canada based their decision to reject Veasna's application on false allegations that came the same month he rejected a payoff request, documents show.
Sophia's brother-in-law, Ou Ravath filed an affidavit claiming that in early October 2001, he was approached by "persons" claiming to be from the Canadian embassy who had Veasna's file. They wanted $2,000 US to process and expedite the application. The offer was refused. That same month, the Canadian High Commission in Singapore received an e-mail from an official at the Cambodian Canadian embassy claiming Veasna had faked his parents' death certificates.
CREDIBILITY QUESTIONED
Under Canadian immigration rules, siblings cannot be sponsored unless they are orphans.
"It did appear to be linked," said Sophia's lawyer, Silvia Maciunas. "But that wasn't for us to decide."
CIC refused to comment on the issue.
In its written decision, the Immigration and Refugee Board's appeal division questioned the credibility of Penneth Chheng, an official with the Canadian embassy in Cambodia and the source of the e-mail.
In an e-mail to immigration officials sent Oct. 25, 2001, Chheng claimed a high-ranking Cambodian official rejected the Vonns' parents' death certificates as fakes.
"The chief of Sangkat Chormchao has been refused that the document is not official and not issued by them (sic)," wrote Chheng.
Mick Chong, visa officer at the Singapore Canadian High Commission, used Chheng's e-mail to reject Veasna's application.
"On 25 October 2001, we were informed that the death certificates you provided is not officially issued," wrote Chong, in a Feb. 7, 2002 letter to Veasna.
But a Cambodian official, Soth Sath, chief of the Chormchao Quarter, told the appeal division that the certificates were legitimate. He also filed an affidavit in 2002 saying no Canadian embassy official was ever told they were fake.
Sophia wrote to then-Liberal Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan in November 2001 about the October bribery attempt, but received no reply. The RCMP was also contacted, but nothing came of it.
The Vonns' story is part of a wider problem, according to some.
"There are so many holes in the system," said Thao Doung, with the Catholic Immigration Centre.
jorge.barrera@ott.sunpub.com
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