Humanitarian, Refugees and Foreign Affairs

We live in an interconnected world, and events transpiring worldwide ultimately affects Canadians, whether we are speaking about economic trade, global prices of goods and commodities, knowledge and skills exchange, effects of climate change, disease transmission and control, natural disaster management, and others. Fulfilling our international obligations protects and serves the interests of Canadians.

People fleeing war, persecution or natural disasters face tremendous barriers to obtaining necessary travel documents. For this reason, I have been advocating for visa-free travel for urgent, life-and-death situations such as the war in Ukraine. I have also been advocating for the government to rescind the safe third country agreement because often, refugees cannot get to safety without first going to a third country. It is paramount that Canada has an adequately resourced immigration system that can act with flexibility and expediency in times of crisis without compromising national security standards.

As your Member of Parliament, I will fight to ensure Canada fulfills its humanitarian and environmental obligations as a member of the international community.

OPEN LETTER: Arbitrary cap of 1000 applications for special family reunification measures for Gaza

This announcement was widely welcomed, albeit overdue. Nobody was more appreciative than those Canadians and permanent residents with family members trapped in Gaza. These same members of our communities have endured the longest and most unbearable months of their lives. Unfortunately, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has not been forthright about this policy but shrouded certain details in uncertainty. In particular, the cap of 1,000 applications for the family reunification program that has been imposed is shocking.

Considering the unbearably horrific and inhumane conditions facing the nearly two million civilians that have been displaced in the Gaza Strip, the decision to cap the number of temporary resident visa applications at 1,000 is indefensible.

Families and children in the Gaza Strip are facing shortages of essential supplies including food, water, electricity, medicine, and fuel. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder has stated that “children face a serious threat of mass disease outbreak.”

City News: Gov’t to offer 3-year visas to Canadians’ extended family in Gaza, starting in 2024

This development comes after the Liberals faced pressure from families and the federal NDP to find special pathways to bring extended family members of Canadians out of the region. Recognizing the advocacy from Canadians that led to Thursday’s announcement, Miller said the policy changes are about keeping families together.

“New Democrats welcome this long overdue announcement by the federal government,” NDP MP Jenny Kwan said in a statement. “Families have been waiting for this day for too long.”

The minister has said while Canadian officials remain in contact with consular staff on the ground pushing for more evacuations—as an estimated 200 individuals registered with Global Affairs Canada remained trapped— the situation in the war zone remains precarious.

CBC: Canadian trapped in Gaza pleads for help as Ottawa announces new immigration measures

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan welcomed the government's announcement but said it was "long overdue."

"As more than two million people remain trapped under the devastating siege, many Canadians have been enduring daily distress that is beyond comprehension," she said in a media statement.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked earlier in the day why the government didn't act sooner.

The Tyee: How a Palestinian Injured in a Drone Strike Came to Canada

The group lobbied federal members of Parliament, who wrote letters of support. Jenny Kwan, the NDP’s critic for immigration, refugees and citizenship and MP for Vancouver East, took Alzaza’s story directly to then-immigration minister Sean Fraser. Barkan reached out to friend and fellow activist Roger Waters, bassist for the rock group Pink Floyd, who spoke out on Alzaza’s behalf.

Hamilton Spectator: Hamilton man leads lobby effort to evacuate family from war torn Gaza

Rani Hemaid’s quest to bring home relatives who live in fear and deprivation in war-torn Gaza took him to Parliament Hill.

The Hamilton man drove to Ottawa with two others at 3 a.m. on Dec. 4, and eight hours later was speaking at a microphone inside a lobby in the House of Commons, urging the federal government to step-up evacuation efforts for loved ones of Palestinian-Canadians.

The government's policy is to facilitate evacuation of immediate family members of Canadian citizens, defined as a spouse or child under 22.

"I want to ask the Canadian government, on what grounds do you define who qualifies to live and whose lives are not worth saving?" Hemaid said at the microphone, flanked by politicians and members of a group called "Campaign to Reunite Our Families."

CBC: Her parents, siblings and baby nephew are trapped in Gaza. Canada doesn't consider them 'immediate family’

The NDP is calling on the federal government to expand its definition of immediate family for Palestinians, and create special immigration measures to get more people safely out of Gaza and reunited with their loved ones in Canada.

"Time is of the essence. As we speak, people's lives are in jeopardy and we need the government to take action," NDP MP Jenny Kwan said during a Monday press conference, which also included an impassioned plea from Alsaafin.

Asked by reporters Tuesday whether Canada would consider expanding its eligibility criteria, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said: "We have tried our utmost, whenever there's a configuration of a family unit that doesn't fall within our current definitions, to be as flexible as possible to try and get people out.”

CIMM#87: Subject Matter of the Supplementary Estimates (B), 2023-24: Votes 1b, 5b and 10b under Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP

I would say this: I get that there are other factors that have to be navigated through in order to actually get the people to safety. First and foremost, for them to get through the first barrier, is the Canadian government willing to accept them and, therefore, create a policy that allows for it in a fair and systematic fashion, not in a one-off situation? Without that policy change, they can't even get through the first door.

I would ask the minister to act with utmost urgency because people are literally dying. The executive director of UNICEF now calls the Gaza strip “the most dangerous place in the world to be a child”. That is the reality that people are faced with. I think there's no time to waste. I don't think it's a difficult policy to change in that regard.

I would also ask the minister to provide a special immigration measure for people with family members in Gaza so that they can bring them to safety. Again, without a pathway, people have nowhere to go. They have no ability to begin the process to help bring them to safety.

Will the minister be working on that as well?

Marc Miller Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC, Liberal

Recognizing that I am not the sole decider in this.... It's stuff that we are working on with our colleagues at Foreign Affairs and with our partners in the region. It is something, as you've said, that is of the utmost importance.

Again, the policy, perhaps, will not contain everything you're advocating for. It's something that we are working on. It has to be realistic, and it has to actually reflect our ability to extract people, which, I would reiterate for this group, is still extremely limited, even within the categories of people we are trying to get out. I know that you suggested that this is piecemeal, but in cases where we have had facts, circumstances and the ability to get people out in a secure and safe way, we've done so and, I would say, with modest success.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP

What I'm trying to avert for the government, actually, is to not get into the situation where in the case of Afghanistan there was this hit-and-miss approach. Some people got out and other didn't, to the point where authorization letters that were not official from the department were being handed out. We don't want that kind of controversy. We should learn lessons from what's happened before. It's really important that we do this right.

I would urge the minister to take immediate action to bring in special immigration measures—one, to expand the extended family into the immediate family definition; and two, to allow for people in Canada to bring their loved ones to safety. That includes extended family members. I'll just park that there. I don't want to spend more of my precious time on that during my six minutes, because I want to raise another issue.

With regard to Afghanistan, I've handed a pile of files to the government. I get that you don't want to get into individual cases, but there are cases where de facto dependants are part of that application. Everyone else has been approved within the application except for a single sister, for example, an unmarried sister who will be left behind. There are de facto dependants under the definition of IRCC. That can't be allowed to happen. The minister must understand the grave danger that this woman would be exposed to if she were left behind. Now the family's stuck in this situation trying to make a decision. Do they leave? Do they not leave? This is not a choice.

Why are de facto dependants being excluded in applications? What is wrong with the system?

HANSARD: Will Liberals Immediately Enact Special Immigration Measures to Include Extended Family Members of Canadian Citizens and Permanent Residents From Gaza?

Globe: NDP Calls For Canada to Bring Extended Family of Canadians Safety Out of Gaza

Canadians whose relatives are struggling to survive in the Gaza Strip are losing faith the federal government will step in to save the lives of their loved ones, and are joining an NDP call for Canada to help get their extended family members out of the embattled territory.

Canadian Press: Calls grow to get Canadian extended families out of Gaza

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan asked the minister Monday to formalize the process of getting extended family members out of the embattled territory.

“I assume that the government is doing something on a one-off basis and perhaps that’s why some people managed to get to safety. But that’s not good enough, it is not the right approach,” Kwan said at a press conference Monday.

In an open letter signed by the entire NDP caucus, Kwan urged the government to facilitate the evacuation and reunification of extended family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents from Gaza.

“The situation in Gaza is getting so desperate that literally, as we speak, people’s lives are being lost,” she told reporters at a press conference outside the House of Commons.