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After almost two hours, she and her kids — then 10, three and two — were handed back their passports and told they could not continue their journey because their Canadian visas had been cancelled. 

Mejias was horrified when she opened their passports and saw the words “CANCELLED CBSA” scribbled across their visas. 

“No reasonable government official would cancel a person’s visa before first talking to that person,” Mejias said in an interview. “The defacing of a person’s visa by an airline employee who is not a government official was a glaring impropriety.”

Little did the 41-year-old mother expect that she and her children would be stuck in Panama for over a month to fight to get their visas reinstated, and join Pedro Garcia in Canada.

Mejias, now a Canadian permanent resident, is suing Air Canada and the federal government for negligence and abuse of power by wrongfully denying them entry to the country even though they had a valid visa at the time. The family is asking for the reimbursement of $4,520.13 (U.S.) that they incurred during their one month and two days stranded in Panama City. A three-day hearing is scheduled in º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍønext week.

Air Canada and the Attorney General of Canada have denied the family’s allegations and asked the Federal Court to dismiss the case. Both have declined to comment, citing privacy concerns and the fact the case is before the court.

According to Mejias, her husband, 47, an economist who worked for the Central Bank of Venezuela, came to Canada in January 2017 for a postgraduate program in financial planning at Centennial College. Back then, spouses and children of international students in college programs were allowed visas to come as a family.

She said she stayed behind with the kids until August 2017 because they were in the process of buying a new home in Caracas and had to wait for the closing.

The plan, added Mejias, was for Molina to finish his studies and get Canadian work experience on a one-year post-graduation work permit, before the family returned home and applied for permanent residence in Canada from overseas.

While waiting for check-in at the Panama City airport, Mejias said she was extensively questioned by an Air Canada agent who asked about why she’s travelling to Canada on one-way tickets, with her visa and work permit expiring in three months. 

She was told Canadian immigration officials needed to conduct some routine verification of their visas. When the airline agent re-emerged, he said the family’s visa had been voided.

“I felt embarrassed and humiliated,” recalled Mejias, who worked for a global telecommunications company in Venezuela and is now employed at a º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøfinancial institution. “The lines crossing out the visas and the words ‘Cancelled CBSA’ written in a big size across each visa were horrendous.”

She decided to stay in a hotel in Panama with the kids, figuring there was a misunderstanding that would quickly be resolved. But then her two younger ones, Victoria and Paul, came down with chickenpox while a º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍølawyer was helping them sort out their visa situation.

On Aug. 29, 2017, Canadian immigration officials reissued their visas, and the family arrived in º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøa week later.

In a statement of defence, the federal government said a border agent responsible for Panama City was notified of an “irregular activity” involving the family on Aug. 4, 2017. The red flags included:

•The passengers were travelling on one-way tickets, “shortly” before their visa expiry;

•There was a delay in their travel since their visas were granted in late 2016;

•The political and economic crisis that has forced millions of Venezuelans to emigrate; and

•The amount of luggage they were bringing to Canada given their visitor status.

“All of these factors suggested that the Plaintiffs were intending to immigrate to Canada,” the government said in its submissions, adding that the family did end up making an asylum claim in Canada in 2019. 

“The Defendant denies there is any common law duty of care owed to the Plaintiffs ... pleads that all actions taken or omitted and decisions made in the exercise of the Defendant’s discretion were justified, reasonable and prudent.”

In its defence, Air Canada said it acted under the direction of the Canada Border Services Agency and “reprotected” the plaintiffs and flew them to º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøon Sept. 6, 2017, without any additional fee or service charge once their new visas were secured.

“Air Canada pleads that it fulfilled its contract of carriage with the plaintiffs,” it said. “Air Canada specifically denies any negligence or breach of duty.”

Mejias said she and her kids were at 75 per cent of their free baggage allowance. She said it didn’t matter that they were travelling with expiring visas when her husband was going to be on a post-graduation work permit to extend the family’s stay in the country.

It was unfortunate, however, that the family was forced to seek asylum in Canada later, she noted, due to unexpected events back in Venezuela that made it unsafe for them to return. Mejias insisted the lawsuit is not just about the money. “We were treated in a manner that I do not wish to happen to anyone else.”