Hidden on the eighth floor of a white-gray building, with a massive “For Rent” sign above the door, is Welcome Collective, one of Montreal’s many clinics dedicated to supporting the thousands of refugee claimants who call the city home. It is also where Sara, a mother of three originally from Morocco, sought help after the Algerian woman who translated and filed the family’s asylum claim disappeared with all copies of the application (names have been changed to protect anonymity).

With the very real possibility of deportation hanging over the family now that their point of contact with immigration officials was gone, they arrived at Welcome Collective at their wits end. The clinic’s social workers jumped into action.

They filed an access to information request with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to get a copy of Sara’s application and began the process of registering the two youngest children for school. The oldest daughter would have to forgo registering for postsecondary education because, without official refugee status, she is subject to international student fees that the family cannot afford. The family also needed psychosocial support to begin processing the persecution they faced back home and the trauma of uprooting their entire lives.