Ottawa intervenes to get 13-year-old Whalley, B.C. baseball player to Little League World Series

OTTAWA – Thirteen-year-old Dio Gama will get to play baseball in the Little League World Series in Pennsylvania after all.

Gama’s team, the Whalley Major Allstars from Surrey, B.C., had thought they would be without the young outfielder after a federal judge ordered a review of the family’s immigration case last month.

There were fears Gama would be blocked from re-entering Canada if he travelled to the U.S. for the tournament without status in Canada.

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The Canadian Press has learned the federal Immigration Department will issue Gama a temporary resident permit in order to allow him to accompany his team to the Little League World Series.

The temporary permit is the result of an intervention by Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

A senior Immigration official says the $200 application fee for the permit will also be waived.