Family fighting to stay in Alberta accuse government of 'bureaucracy over common sense'

A southern Alberta family set on becoming Canadians is now in a last-ditch fight to stayin the country.

Theirapplication to become permanent residents and subsequent appeal haveboth been turned down,leaving the coupleunable to work and strugglingto pay the bills.

Mark Lowe, who's from the United Kingdom, met his wife Michaelain Germanywhile stationed there with the British Armed Forces. Together withtheir eight-year-olddaughter Isabella,they'velived in Suffield, Alta.,for the last four-and-a-half years.

Lowe has been busy working as a millwright following hislong army career, which includedtwo tours in Iraq. He has 23years of experience as an engineer.

His wifeMichaelahad been working in the oilpatch as a driver before taking a job at a localWalmartwhen the economy tanked.

"There's been a lot of stress," said Lowe. "My wife ended up in hospital for a week with a complete nervous breakdown because of the stress, this whole nightmare."

Lowe saidhis wife has a 16-year-old son in Germany who had to be listed on their application, even though he's in the custody of his father, isn't part of the family in Canada and will never come here.

He said they paid the father in Germany to take the boy for a required medical examination but Lowe said the father refused to share the results and the family's application was turned down as a result.

"The father was being uncooperative and in the eyes of the German system my wife didn't have parental responsibility anymore becauseshe had to sign that over to the father back in 2012, before she left Germany," said Lowe.

"Because we didn't supply the information they wanted,they refused our [permanent residence]for non-compliance. It was never enough,no matter what we did or sent to them."

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada wouldn't be interviewed about the Lowe family's case but confirmed their application was "refused due to non-compliance with the requirement that all dependents included in the application must undergo medical examinations."

"The easiest option and the most common sense option is that the boy gets signed off the application, we get our residency, me and my wife go back to work, and my daughter continues to go to school," said Lowe.

"The option to remove the boy is there because I know of other cases where this has happened," he added. "It's a case of bureaucracy outdoing basic,common sense."

Lowe's daughter,Isabella, has been allowed to stay in school until the family's fate is decided and shejust started her third year in minor hockey in nearby Redcliff, Alta.

He saidher friends and herfuture arehere in Canada.

"Her whole life is here. She's excelling in school and in her hockey;she doesn't know anything else," he said.

"Sheknows nothing of the U.K.;she knows nothing of Germany;she even has a Canadian accent."

While they work out what to do next, the Lowes arerelying on the help of family, friends and even the Royal Canadian Legion for help, including food donations and money to pay bills.The family also now has a GoFundMe page to solicit online donations.

"Every bit of savings I did have I ploughed into Canada," said Lowe, who now has the family home in Suffield up for sale as they prepare for the worst.

Lowe said his family's lastchance to stay in Alberta hinges on him finding a company to sponsor him as a foreign worker in the coming weeks, which will allow him tostart the whole process again.

If he's not successful, he said his family facesbeing deportedas soon as November.

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