A blind Toronto grandmother is being deported back to Poland tonight, despite having lived in Canada for 11 years.
Stefania Elzbieta Magdziak, 69, came to Canada as a visitor in 1998 to visit her son and daughter who are legal landed immigrants.
Magdziak never left. She blames an immigration consultant for making her file a failed refugee claim.
She has applied to stay under humanitarian and compassion grounds but was denied her application.
She has a plane ticket booked and is scheduled to from Pearson Airport tonight.
If she doesn't leave Canada tonight, there will be a warrant issued for her arrest.
A group of more than 20 family members and friends has gathered at teh family home since noon.
There are lots of tears and frustration.
Her family members in Canada say they're concerned that there aren't enough medical or social services in Poland to help her with her disability. She is legally blind and is rapidly losing the little vision she has left.
They say there is only one nurse for thousands of sick people in her hometown of Ryn, 300 kilometres north of Warsaw.
They say the waiting list for a seeing-eye dog is years long.
NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow and NDP leader Jack Layton made several attempts to lobby immigration minister Jason Kenney, but they haven't received a response.
