Sumaya was just one of dozens of people waiting in western Sudan for a simple notification from Canada’s immigration officials welcoming her to Canada. She died in Darfur in western Sudan, before her paperwork was processed — just one piece of paper and maybe a safe flight away.
While she was waiting for a message from Canadian immigration, the war caught her and Sumaya became one of a growing number of Sudanese victims who have died with an “incomplete” file in Canada’s immigration queue. The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began in April 2023 and has turned into a brutal humanitarian catastrophe. Since then, millions have been caught in the crossfire of ethnic violence and starvation, with no end in sight.
In 2024, Ottawa launched the Sudan family reunification pathway, and the government announced it would be a lifeline for the Sudanese-Canadian community. But what was supposed to be an emergency way out of the country has led to bureaucratic delays and wait times that could last for years.
As of January 2026, the war in Sudan has surpassed 1,000 days of relentless violence, with conservative estimates placing the death toll at more than 150,000 and creating the world’s largest displacement crisis according to the World Health Organization.
Based on calculations by federal MP Jenny Kwan, people will wait 13 years for their paperwork to be approved.
“It is based on the number of applications in the backlog for the three categories and current processing rate based on the levels plan under ‘Other’ category,” said Kwan, the NDP’s immigration critic.
“A ِ13-year wait is a denial of safety,” Kwan told New Canadian Media. “Family reunification is supposed to be a humanitarian pathway, not a bureaucratic lottery that forces people to wait through war, displacement and famine.”
