THE Viviers family of four, three of whom have a rare medical condition that makes them allergic to South African sunshine, was ordered this week to leave Canada within 30 days. Immigrations officers turned down the Viviers’s last-ditch appeal for refugee status in Prince Rupert, a high rain rainfall fishing port in the remote northwest, handing them ”departure orders” instead. John and Maggie Viviers and their children Dominic (15) and Heloise (13) must be gone within 30 days or be deported. An earlier appeal was turned down last month. ”They didn’t want to listen to us,” said Mrs Viviers, the only family member free from the hereditary condition called porphyria, which makes even brief exposures to sunlight painful. In South Africa, her computer technician husband and two children must stay indoors all day, and may only venture outside after sunset. The Viviers entered Canada in April 1999 to settle in the country’s rainiest place, so they could lead a normal life. But when they applied for permanent residence, they found the authorities unwilling to forgive their having come as tourists though they intended to stay. – Sapa