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July 7th, 2006, 10:25:00 AM
'Canada gave me back my life' - Longtime Port Loring-area woman ordered to return to U.S.
Dave Dale
Local News - Friday, July 07, 2006 @ 08:00
Marion McKee spent Canada Day packing her bags and wishing she could stay in the country where her life was saved.
But if she doesn't return to the United States by July 14, McKee said her friends in the Golden Valley area will lose a $2,000 bond they posted last month.
The 67-year-old American made the mistake of attending her 50th high school reunion in Connecticut and was stopped June 13 for a random border inspection.
McKee couldn't report a place of residence in the U.S. after spending most of the past 13 years in the Port Loring-Golden Valley area south of Lake Nipissing.
"The man at immigration treated me like I was lower than a snake's belly," McKee said, adding she was considered an "illegal alien" and a criminal.
At a time when terrorists and global crime rings are leading to heightened security levels, McKee said it's hard to understand why someone like her is considered a threat.
Lois Brown, minister at St. Paul's United Church in Golden Valley, said McKee is a "model citizen" as far as she and her congregation are concerned, describing her as a "kind-hearted soul."
Brown said she feels "helpless" and at a loss about how to change the situation, " . . . she's had her world fall out from under her." McKee applied for permanent residency in 1994 after coming here the year before, at first staying with her older sister who became a Canadian through marriage in 1972.
After three years of jumping through immigration hoops and returning to visit family in Connecticut every six months, McKee said she was denied citizenship in 1997 and was told "I had nothing to offer Canada."
That comment irks McKee because she collects U.S. Social Security benefits and volunteers her time whenever possible.
McKee was in North Bay Thursday for what could be the last time, joining friends at the opening of a new Alcoholics Anonymous meeting place on Vimy Street.
http://www.nugget.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=100064&catname=Local+News&classif=News+%2D+Local
Dave Dale
Local News - Friday, July 07, 2006 @ 08:00
Marion McKee spent Canada Day packing her bags and wishing she could stay in the country where her life was saved.
But if she doesn't return to the United States by July 14, McKee said her friends in the Golden Valley area will lose a $2,000 bond they posted last month.
The 67-year-old American made the mistake of attending her 50th high school reunion in Connecticut and was stopped June 13 for a random border inspection.
McKee couldn't report a place of residence in the U.S. after spending most of the past 13 years in the Port Loring-Golden Valley area south of Lake Nipissing.
"The man at immigration treated me like I was lower than a snake's belly," McKee said, adding she was considered an "illegal alien" and a criminal.
At a time when terrorists and global crime rings are leading to heightened security levels, McKee said it's hard to understand why someone like her is considered a threat.
Lois Brown, minister at St. Paul's United Church in Golden Valley, said McKee is a "model citizen" as far as she and her congregation are concerned, describing her as a "kind-hearted soul."
Brown said she feels "helpless" and at a loss about how to change the situation, " . . . she's had her world fall out from under her." McKee applied for permanent residency in 1994 after coming here the year before, at first staying with her older sister who became a Canadian through marriage in 1972.
After three years of jumping through immigration hoops and returning to visit family in Connecticut every six months, McKee said she was denied citizenship in 1997 and was told "I had nothing to offer Canada."
That comment irks McKee because she collects U.S. Social Security benefits and volunteers her time whenever possible.
McKee was in North Bay Thursday for what could be the last time, joining friends at the opening of a new Alcoholics Anonymous meeting place on Vimy Street.
http://www.nugget.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=100064&catname=Local+News&classif=News+%2D+Local