This is an example of where going to the press with your story can actually help. It is perfectly normal to refuse immigration visas to people whose family members have some sort of condition that would cause excessive demand on Canada's health and social services. It happens hundreds, maybe thousands, of times a year. Yet when people read about a case, they usually are up in arms, saying it is discriminatory, and we can't believe the Canadian gov't would be like that, and so on. Most such cases, however, never make it to the general public, and so are refused without anyone in the family knowing how to change the outcome.