Father Ho Lung and Friends has applied for visitor visas for nine of its members to travel to Canada for a goodwill tour. Two months have passed since the application. Flight ticket prices increased, we tried calling Canadian High Commission officials multiple times and even physically visiting them in Kingston to no avail.

I tried to make an appointment by phone but was told everything had to be done online. We started pre-booking tickets for our trip to Toronto. We are scheduled to perform at Saints Peter and Paul Banquet Hall on December 15, 2024, between 16:30 and 18:30. This is a goodwill concert for the poor. It is a day of thanksgiving for food, clothing, medicine, and fellowship. In the past, before the COVID-19 pandemic, our performance group had staged many concerts and productions in Canada. Canadians, on the other hand, visited and lived with the Poor Missionaries in our monasteries and went to our apostles to serve the poor.

Father Ho Lung and Friends is a well-known performing group in Jamaica. Our first international tour was in Peterborough, Canada. We later expanded to Toronto. We are now known in the United States and have performed in Germany, England, Brazil and the Philippines.

We have been performing at the National Arena in Jamaica every year since 2000. Viewerships ranged from 30,000 to 50,000. Productions are made to bring together music, dance, theater and drama. We get help with funding to provide assistance to the homeless and poor with the promise of free services. People from embassies and high commissions attended our demonstrations.

Hundreds of Canadians visited us; Some of them are young people who expressed that this was a life-changing experience and a wonderful socio-religious exchange. Many containers of food are sent to us from Canada every year and great aid is provided to the poor. So we don’t understand why the Jamaica-Canada relationship, which has been so valuable for some time, now seems to be curtailed. I am surprised that we are treated as foreigners while trying to get a visa for our goodwill tour.

Lately I’ve been hearing complaints from Jamaican friends that they appear to be biased against Jamaicans when they apply for Canadian visas. This is not a matter of people trying to immigrate to Canada illegally or trying to commit crime and export marijuana.

The singers in our group are good citizens, Christian people who volunteer their talents to serve the poor every year.

There are smart middle-class people who are alarmed that visa applications take a very long time, sometimes eight to nine months, to be processed. This begs the question: “Does the high commission have a bias against Jamaicans?”

Our experience and expectations are that Canadians are not unproductive or unkind people. However, I feel that Canada’s attitude towards Jamaicans is a deliberate policy that should be excluded.

In comparison, the United States visa application process is the exact opposite.

Jamaica is a small country with a lot of crime and a lot of violence. Canada is a large country with fewer difficulties. We cannot remain separate and alone. We are part of a western hemisphere with similar cultures and breathing the same air.

I ask the Canadian High Commissioner, Mark Berman of Jamaica, to tell us what your country’s position is and where you are.

Father Richard Ho Lung can be reached at 876-550-8987.