Even though I agree with the response by
@scylla, it needs to be clear that if you wait that long to come to Canada, such that you are outside Canada for well over three years since the date of your landing, there is a real risk of being subject to inadmissibility proceedings when you arrive, leading to the loss of PR status.
I cannot offer personal advice, but I can emphatically say that the "
best way forward" is to come to Canada to STAY sooner rather than later, and in particular BEFORE you have been outside Canada more than 1095 days since landing. If you do remain outside Canada for treatment for more than 1095 days since landing, the sooner you come here (and come to STAY), the better odds you have of keeping your PR status.
Arriving here just a few months before the fifth year anniversary of the date you landed is pushing the envelope, significantly increasing the risk of being determined to be inadmissible and losing your status. Yes, you can argue there are H&C reasons why you should be allowed to keep status despite the breach of the RO, reasons that can include the choice to continue treatment for an illness where you currently live. BUT as much as we talk about H&C relief, that's the long shot, that's taking chances, that is far shy of being the "
best" way to keep your status.
To be clear, being able to make a H&C case is NOT a good reason to put off returning to Canada to settle here UNLESS you really have no other practical choice. If you cannot come, you cannot come, and then you are relying on either being waived through or getting H&C relief.
Failure to Notify IRCC of Material Changes Before Landing In Regards to Medical Matters:
Most of the discussion since your post has been about whether you should have notified IRCC of the cancer diagnosis before you landed. Obviously this is totally irrelevant if you did not know of the diagnosis before you landed.
Moreover, if as you say you made no misrepresentations, including no false or deceptive answers to questions asked during the process of landing, odds are this discussion is an unimportant distraction, not a problem.
Otherwise, as to the exchange between
@Ponga and
@canuck78 . . .
If
@Ponga is correct, if the initial diagnosis was AFTER you landed,
NO PROBLEM. Ignore this entire conversation.
If, in contrast,
@canuck78 is correct, if the diagnosis was BEFORE you landed . . . the worst case scenario would be a potential misrepresentation issue based on misrepresentation by omission BUT ONLY IF there was a
MATERIAL change in any of the information you provided to IRCC before you did the landing.
However, even if you got the initial diagnosis of cancer after your PR visa was approved but before you landed, unless you specifically stated in the process of landing that you did not have any
serious changes in your medical condition, or you otherwise made overt efforts to conceal the diagnosis, this discussion is probably still an aside, not worth much attention. Not likely to be a problem.
So, even assuming you got the initial diagnosis of cancer after your PR visa was approved but before you landed . . . if during the process of applying for PR you checked or said "
no" in response to a question in the forms for applying, or in an interview with IRCC, asking if you had been diagnosed with cancer (I do not recall any such question in the process, at least not other than in response to questions asked by the doctor who did the medical exam, but that was a long time ago now), the diagnosis of cancer before landing would be a material change in circumstances obligating you to report that change to IRCC and to do so either before or during the process of landing. The failure to do so could be considered a misrepresentation by omission. That would be a problem . . . but only a problem if IRCC decides to prosecute it as such, either in admissibility proceedings based on misrepresentation, or to refer it to the Crown to prosecute criminally.
Neither of which is likely. Some remote possibility of alleging misrepresentation in 44(1) proceedings but that is not likely.
Nothing to worry much at all about at this juncture. Unless you come to Canada to settle before failing to meet the RO, the real issue is the prospect of being deemed inadmissible for a breach of the RO.
You can probably ignore the rest of this.
This is a huge overstatement. Or, to put it plainly, it is not accurate. No, after being approved and issued a PR visa there is no need for the OP to have notified IRCC if they had a cold, sore throat, broke an arm or leg, had dental surgery, gained weight, even a lot of weight, or any one of scores and scores of other possible changes in a person's health.
What serious medical conditions should be reported? I do not recall, and besides I went through the process too long ago for my experience to be much guidance, just what medical questions were asked in the PR visa application forms. I do not know what medical questions the OP answered in the application forms themselves or in any interview. So I do not know if a later diagnosis of cancer is overtly contrary to information the OP gave in the application, a diagnosis that would require notification to IRCC.
I am absolutely certain, however, that there is no obligation to notify IRCC of just "
any changes" in health.
I am not so certain about a diagnosis that changes specific information given to the doctor conducting the medical examination, but I have not seen any misrepresentation cases based on a failure to notify IRCC of a subsequent change in the information that was given to the examining physician.
In fact, I have not seen any misrepresentation cases against PRs, after landing, based on the failure to notify IRCC of a change in health, even a serious change in health, that occurs after the visa is approved but before landing.
Meanwhile, medical diagnoses are not like being arrested and charged with a crime. The failure to notify IRCC of a criminal charge, such that would make the individual inadmissible for criminality, is more clearly a misrepresentation by omission (and it would be an overt misrepresentation if asked during the landing process whether there have been any criminal charges). Sure, if in the application forms the applicant is asked specifically whether they have been diagnosed with cancer, then a failure to notify IRCC of such a diagnosis before landing will technically constitute a misrepresentation by omission, even though so far as I can discern there is no more than a remote chance that IRCC would pursue a PR for misrepresentation based on this.
Moreover, I am skeptical that once the PR visa is issued the individual needs to notify IRCC of even major or serious medical conditions that develop in the meantime UNLESS it is a medical condition that poses a danger to public health, like a serious contagious disease. The law regarding medical screening prescribes the need for a "
medical certificate" certifying the individual does not have a medical condition that would pose an "
excessive demand on health or social services," or which pose a danger to public health. Once that certificate is issued I do not believe that individuals need to self-monitor their health care to make a determination if changes in their health are such as to constitute a change that might pose an excessive demand on health or social services, or pose a danger to public health . . . so long as they are honestly answering questions they are asked and not actively trying to conceal a medical condition.
