A Russian-speaking man from Latvia who has spent more than a decade in Canada, including nearly three years in sanctuary in a Newfoundland church, will get another chance to become a permanent resident, a federal judge has ruled.

Justice Douglas R. Campbell ruled Feb. 7 that 51-year-old Aleksejs Vitaly Kolosovs will get another hearing before a different visa officer to determine whether he should be allowed to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

In court documents, Kolosovs argues that to send him back to Latvia would be an emotional and financial hardship to his four Canada-born grandchildren, one of whom has diabetes. Kolosovs also claims it would be difficult for him to find a job in Latvia because he does not speak Latvian and is not a citizen.

Kolosovs, who was born in Russia, came to Canada in 1997 working aboard a fishing boat. When the boat’s owners went bankrupt, he stayed in St. John’s, the provincial capital of Newfoundland and Labrador. With valid work permits, he found employment in the area, but several applications to stay in Canada were denied. Kolosovs was scheduled to be deported in April 2005, but sought sanctuary in West End Baptist Church in St. John’s, where he has lived since.

In his ruling, Campbell wrote that the visa officer who reviewed Kolosovs’ application lacked sensitivity to the needs of the grandchildren and breached due process by not giving Kolosovs an opportunity to respond to evidence used in denying permanent residency.

Kolosovs’ son, the father of the four children, was deported to Latvia in 2005. Since then, the elder Kolosovs has been the children’s father figure and has provided financial support for them.

Although acknowledging that deporting Kolosovs would be difficult on his grandchildren, the visa officer wrote that “family separation is within the normal consequences of the removal of someone who has no recognized status to remain in Canada,” according to court documents. The officer also noted that Kolosovs has a daughter and son in Latvia.

The visa officer also challenged Kolosovs’ claim regarding Latvia’s lanuage law and the difficulty ethnic Russians have in finding work.

“I could find nothing in my research that would allow me to conclude that they are denied employment as a general rule,” the visa officer concluded, according to the court documents.

Kolosovs’ case has garnered coverage from Canadian media including the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and the St. John’s-based newspaper The Independent.

His case also has earned support from the Refugee Immigrant Advisory Board of St. John’s.

A signature drive that could lead to giving voters the right to dismiss the Latvian parliament will run from March 12 to April 11, the Central Election Commission has announced in Rīga.

If enough registered voters sign on, the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (Latvijas Brīvo arodbiedrību savienība) will be able to submit proposed amendments to the constitution that could allow, in effect, a popular recall of the parliament. If the Latvian parliament rejects or changes the proposed amendments, a national referendum must be called.

Approval of the signature drive is the latest step in a year-long conflict between Latvian politicians on one side and, on the other side, the labor confederation and a number of civic groups and leaders calling for government reform. The conflict came to a head noticeably in the late October and early November “umbrella revolution”—two gatherings of thousands in Rīga’s Old City to protest recent government actions. Bowing to pressure and defections from his cabinet, Prime Minister Aigars Kalvītis stepped down in December.

The labor federation has proposed amending Articles 78 and 79 of the constitution to allow voters to submit a draft resolution calling for the dismissal of parliament, the Saeima. If the Saeima were to reject or amend a resolution calling for its dissolution, then a national referendum would be required. In case of a national referendum, more than half of legal voters would have to support the call for dissolving the legislative body.

“These amendments to the constitution will eradicate from the country politicians’ tradition of thinking about the people only once every four years before elections,” Pēteris Krīgers, chairman of the labor confederation, said in a press release. “And this will undoubtedly expand citizens’ chances of more tightly controlling members of parliament, thereby guaranteeing a stronger civic society.”

The constitution at present allows only the president to propose dissolving parliament, which then leads to a national referendum. If the national referendum succeeds, parliament is dissolved and new elections are scheduled. But if the referendum fails, the president has to step down and parliament chooses a new head of state.

Both former President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and current President Valdis Zatlers in the past year expressed reluctance to dissolving parliament.

A total of 11,095 valid signatures were recorded on a preliminary petition submitted to the elections commission Feb. 1 by the labor confederation, a commission spokeswoman said in a Feb. 15 press release. The petition, which required a minimum of 10,000 valid signatures, asked the commission to organize the signature drive.

For the month-long signature drive to succeed, at least 10 percent of the number of voters in the last parliamentary election must sign on—or at least 149,064.

Just where Latvian citizens abroad will be able to sign on may not be known until next week, when the Saeima is expected to consider a final reading of amendments to the law on initiative and referendum, election commission spokeswoman Kristīne Bērziņa told Latvians Online in an e-mail. If the Saeima approves the amendments, then every embassy, general consulate or consulate will be open for citizens to sign the petition.

During last year’s signature drive for a referendum on controversial amendments to two national security laws, 32 locations abroad were available. However, many saw little or no activity.

Further information on locations will be announced on the Central Election Commission’s Web site, www.cvk.lv.