Just weeks ago, Dillon Nolan was envisioning a new chapter of his life in Canada.
He married his partner, Dylan Fox, on Valentine’s Day and was, by all accounts, excelling at his job as a social worker specializing in youth mental health at B.C. Children’s Hospital.
A couple of weeks later, he was arrested and handcuffed outside a music venue in Vancouver’s Gastown where he was about to perform, detained in an immigration holding centre and ordered to leave the country.
“I was so upset. I was so shocked,” Nolan said. “I didn’t really know what happened or why.”
Youth mental health worker forced to leave Canada
His supervisors at B.C. Children’s Hospital say Nolan’s sudden absence created an unexpected gap in care at a critical time, as they had wanted Nolan to be involved in supporting youth in Tumbler Ridge in the wake of February’s mass shooting.
It all comes down to two key pieces of correspondence from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that Nolan says he never received.
Nolan, 30, an Irish national, has been living in Vancouver and working at B.C. Children’s since 2022.
He applied for his most recent work permit in January 2024, which authorized Nolan to do social work in Canada for two years.
However, a letter dated Dec. 30, 2024, from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada obtained by CBC News stated the department was re-examining Nolan’s work permit due to concerns he was working in a field other than social work, which Nolan says was not the case.
The letter gave Nolan 30 days to provide the department with various identity documents and record checks.
But Nolan says he never received that letter.
An IRCC record of correspondence about Nolan’s application, also obtained by CBC News, indicates the Dec. 30 letter was sent by mail. Under “status” it says “cancelled.”
A month later, having not heard back from Nolan, IRCC sent another letter informing him he’d been found inadmissible to Canada for five years for misrepresenting himself to the department.
That letter was mailed to an address in Dublin. Nolan never received it.
He did, however, receive two identical emails the same day the letter was dated, confirming his biometric information on file with the department would be valid until 2031.
IRCC’s correspondence records confirm this, showing a document called Refusal Letter was sent by mail on Feb. 3, 2025, and two documents called Biometric Validity Letter by email that same day.
Nolan says he kept IRCC informed of changes to his physical address throughout his time in Canada.
He continued working at B.C. Children’s, unaware his work permit had been cancelled.
He says he loved his work, which involved caring for some of the most vulnerable children and youth in the province, including in rural and remote areas.
“I was so excited going into work, like, all the time, and doing the work that I do. It is hard work, definitely. But I always felt like … I’m helping these people and I got to see them every day.”
At the end of April, Nolan received an invitation from the Province of B.C. to apply for permanent residence as a provincial nominee, meaning his application had the backing of the provincial government and his employer.
He received the necessary IRCC invitation to apply for permanent residence, and did so in mid-June. In late 2025 he also applied for a bridging permit to maintain his status in Canada between the expiry of his work permit in January 2026 and whenever his permanent residence came through.
Nolan says his first indication anything was amiss came in early February when he checked IRCC’s portal and found a letter from the department saying his permanent residence application had been refused due to a previous finding of misrepresentation against him.
Just over two weeks later, on Feb. 20, Nolan received another letter from IRCC advising him that his work permit application had also been refused because he had been found inadmissible to Canada, there was an active warrant issued against him and that he was advised to leave the country.
“It was so shocking … I’ve never really been in trouble with the law or anything like that.”
He immediately resigned from his job and booked a ticket to return to Ireland on March 16.
On Feb. 22, Nolan was arrested and handcuffed by Canada Border Services Agency and Vancouver Police Department officers outside a venue where he’d been scheduled to perform.
“I was just so confused. I did not think that this could happen, especially when I had, like, booked my flight and everything.”
Nolan says he was taken to an immigration detention centre in Surrey. There, he says a guard watched him all the time, including while he showered and slept. He says he wasn’t told why he was there and was not given his eyeglasses or a change of clothes brought by his husband.
He was detained for just under two days.
Nolan’s lawyer Michael McDonald said his client’s experience “really did shake my faith in the foundation of rule of law.”
“No one deserves this, but in particular someone like Dillon who has done everything that you are supposed to do when you are trying to immigrate to Canada, and then still have the rug pulled out from under you like this — that’s just unacceptable to me as a lawyer.”
The Canada Border Services Agency said in a statement it could not comment on the specifics of Nolan’s detention due to privacy.
The statement also said that visa overstay and misrepresentation could both result in a removal order that the agency would act to enforce.
IRCC did not respond to CBC’s questions by deadline.
CBC News has viewed five letters of support for Nolan from senior mental health and social work staff at B.C. Children’s Hospital and the Provincial Health Services Authority, which referred to Nolan as a highly valued member of the team. The letters also expressed concern about the effect of his sudden absence on the youth and families he supports, especially in rural and remote parts of the province.
They request that IRCC reconsider its misrepresentation finding and give Nolan the chance to respond to the department’s inquiries.
In the meantime, Nolan heads back to Ireland Monday. He says he doesn’t want to have to start his life over, but is plagued by constant nightmares and is afraid border guards will return at any moment.
“I don’t know if I could come back to Canada after this.”
