That day, I learned what the real problem had been: I was a member of a "prohibited class." My father had nine children out of wedlock and I had three.

About a year later, my partner, Veronica, arrived in Canada. They put her case together with mine. They re-examined her application with mine. In 1969, they called us back again and said that we could not stay in Canada. Veronica was six months pregnant. After the baby was born, we went back to Jamaica.

While we were there, we had someone fighting for us here. A member of the N.D.P. Party called Immigration for us and explained that Veronica had had her baby here and that they should look at our case again. About a year and a half later, we received a letter telling us that we could come back to Canada and stay here.

At that point, I started a new chapter of my life in Canada - but that's a whole other story.