UP to press time on Monday, Father Richard Ho Lung and his performing group were still awaiting word from the Canadian High Commission in Jamaica on the status of their visitors’ visa applications to embark on a goodwill tour in Canada.

And the Roman Catholic priest has been left perplexed given the good relationship he says he and his group — Father Ho Lung and Friends — and Canada previously enjoyed, with the team’s first overseas tour taking place in Peterborough, Canada, as well as having staged many concerts and productions in that country.

In his column published in this week’s Sunday Observer, Father Ho Lung shared that two months ago his group applied for visitors’ visas for nine members to go to Toronto, Canada, in December to participate in a goodwill tour, which will be a concert for the poor in thanksgiving for food, clothes, medicines, and a fellowship gathering. However, no communication has been received on the status of the applications since then.

Ho Lung told the Jamaica Observer on Monday that 300 tickets have already been sold in advance of that performance scheduled for December 15 at Saints Peter and Paul Banquet Hall, from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. The group, he said, had gone ahead and pre-booked their tickets for travel as prices tend to increase nearer to the holiday season.

“No one has been in touch with me so far. So, they have either chosen to simply ignore me or they are perhaps figuring out what to do. I don’t know,” he said.

Ho Lung said he is puzzled as to what changed because, according to him, there was a lot of hospitality, warmth and friendship from the Canadian people in the past. He also pointed out in his column on Sunday that Canadians have, in the past, come to Jamaica and worked with his 43-year-old charity, Missionaries of the Poor, in outreach to the impoverished.

“And it’s been a wonderful relationship all these years, but suddenly there seems to me like a lack of hospitality and a lack of sensitivity,” he said.

Ho Lung deemed it “a little bit strange” that he, being a well known figure in Jamaica, known internationally for his work in peace and with the poor, hasn’t even been granted the courtesy of a response from the Canadian High Commission, noting that the whole process is automated and he was unsuccessful at multiple attempts to speak to authorities at the high commission to get an update on the applications.

“They seem to be living in a closed-off environment which doesn’t allow them to know what is happening in Jamaica. And even then, they should know — it’s their obligation as goodwill people. I should think as people who should be intersecting with the society, they should be [not only] encouraging what’s good for Canada, but also what’s good also for Jamaica,” he argued.

He said he was taken aback by how impersonal the process is, stressing that it makes it “very, very clear, the lack of response, the lack of hospitality or lack of good manners, lack of courtesy and respect for others”.

The Observer tried to contact the high commission, via e-mail and phone for a comment but in both cases we got automated responses directing the newspaper to the commission’s website for information on visa-related matters.

In his column, Ho Lung questioned if the high commission now has a prejudice against Jamaicans based on recent complaints shared by upstanding citizens when they apply for Canadian visas, who sometimes have to wait eight to nine months to have their visa applications processed.

Some social media users, in response to Ho Lung’s column posted on the Observer’s
Instagram page, shared that a lengthy wait period for visas is typical at the Canadian High Commission, with some noting that they have had to wait for more than 12 months to receive their visas.

One user commented that he believes there is a backlog in general.

“There is a backlog at IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) department in general. Visa processing for Jamaica and many other countries can take up to 10 months, while some applications may be processed in five days. If their reasons for visiting Canada are considered an emergency, the agent can send a Web form to IRCC to ask to expedite the process,” he said.