ALLOW TERRY AND PIXIE TO STAY IN CANADA

Immigration officials order U.S. busker out of Canada
Popular musician thinks complaint made after he was featured in paper.

SYDNEY %u2014 The familiar twang of the Charlotte Street banjo has gone silent today.

Immigration officials have asked American busker Terry Lavelle to leave the country. Mr. Lavelle started playing his music here about three years ago, accompanied by his best friend Pixie. The tiny chihuahua and her owner have been embraced by this community since he moved here from California.

"What%u2019s happening (to me) has made me love this place even more," he said in an interview outside the Tim Hortons where he plays each day. "It%u2019s amazing to me %u2014 all the people here have been so concerned, and it really makes me want to stay here. I just appreciate things even more."

Since he was questioned by immigration officials, the community has rallied around him. His friend Glenn MacDonald has set up a petition asking that Mr. Lavelle be allowed to stay. So far he%u2019s collected more than 50 signatures.

The Chronicle Herald published a profile about Mr. Lavelle last month. At the time, the busker said he was living here legally. Mr. Lavelle believes that someone who read the article may have complained to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Two police officers picked up Mr. Lavelle for questioning on Tuesday. He was put in the back of a cruiser and taken to police lockup for several hours. Once there, someone from Citizenship and Immigration questioned him over the phone.

Mr. Lavelle says he%u2019s made at least five or six bus trips back to California. He believes the last time he went home was in May, but no one at the border gave him any documentation to prove that.

Each time he returned, he believed he could visit for six months.

"I just wanted to get out of police custody so I just said, %u2018If you let me go, no matter what the date (I entered) was, I%u2019ll leave on my own%u2019," he told The Chronicle Herald. "I don%u2019t think I was breaking any law, but I was really worried about Pixie, so I just wanted to be released from police custody."

Mr. Lavelle is a peaceful, spiritual man. He%u2019s an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church. Some days, he sings gospel tunes to pass on some love to those who walk by him or drop coins in his case.

He makes his living through his music, saving up the money to pay for the $45 hotel room he rents every night. He had finally found a new apartment, a pet-friendly, one-bedroom that would cost $350 each month. He knows that sort of thing does not come up too often. He%u2019s been looking for a place for more than six months.

So he%u2019s been praying for a sign from God since being arrested.

Nine people called or stopped to talk with Mr. Lavelle during his hour-long interview with the Chronicle Herald on Thursday.

One of those people was Sydney-Victoria MP Mark Eyking.

Mr. Lavelle%u2019s eyes lit up when he got the call from the Liberal MP.

"Thank you, thanks very much," he said, after Mr. Eyking told he would try to help. "Oh my God, I was praying for a miracle."

Those who know him have been doing the same thing.

Clare Matheson first met Mr. Lavelle a few years ago. She buys food for him and Pixie and always stops to talk to him at the farmer%u2019s market where he plays each Saturday.

"I%u2019m just worried about the expense (of crossing the border)," she said. "I mean he lives day-to-day. It%u2019s a hardship."

Forcing him to leave is outrageous, she said, because this is a man who brings nothing but beauty to Cape Breton. She said she%u2019s hoping Mr. Eyking can intervene.

"He%u2019s just a simple fellow who gives pleasure to the community through his music," she said. "I felt sick when I heard he would have to leave. Absolutely sick.

"If I win the lottery, we%u2019ll set him up."

Mr. MacDonald hopes that his petition will work in his friend%u2019s favour. He plans to post copies on bulletin boards around Charlotte Street this week.

"He isn%u2019t doing anything wrong," Mr. MacDonald said. "I just want him to be able to stay here and keep doing what he loves to do."

Mr. Lavelle is hoping to hear from Lee Cohen, a Halifax-based immigration lawyer. Until then, he%u2019s going to fully co-operate with Citizenship and Immigration, he said. He promised to leave today and that%u2019s what he plans to do.

His biggest concern is that he%u2019ll have trouble when he tries to come back.

"If I have to leave here, I%u2019ll just feel like somebody lost in the world," he said. "I%u2019d just be out there, wandering around the planet . . . waiting to come back."