Palestinians in Canada will not be sent back to Gaza if their visas expire while the war between Israel and Hamas rages, Immigration Minister Marc Miller told a Commons committee on Tuesday.
He was responding to questioning from NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan who asked the minister whether he would extend the visas of Palestinians in Canada so they are not sent back to Gaza during the war once they expire.
“We can do that. We can extend the visas,” Mr. Miller replied in a hearing before the Commons immigration committee.
Globe & Mail: Foreign interference a 'stain' on Canada's electoral process, Hogue inquiry concludes
NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who CSIS said has been targeted by Beijing, said Ottawa must do more to protect Chinese-Canadians from intimidation and disinformation practices during election campaigns.
Ms. Kwan said she hopes Justice Hogue will recommend that election monitoring be removed from the hands of senior civil servants who answer to the prime minister.
“The report noted there is an systemic failure of communications by the government to those who are targeted or impacted by foreign-interference actors,” she said. “I strongly believe what we need is one independent agency to be mandated as the lead to take on this work.”
She also said Justice Hogue needs to hold Mr. Trudeau and his top aides to account in the final report on how his government handled CSIS intelligence that warned about China state interference and disinformation efforts.