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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.”

  

CBC: 'Lost Canadians' win in Ontario court as judge ends 2 classes of citizenship

Ontario's Superior Court of Justice has ruled it's unconstitutional for Canada to deny automatic citizenship to children born abroad to parents who were also born overseas but have a substantial connection to Canada — a big win for "Lost Canadians" trying to reclaim citizenship rights.

"It's a wonderful Christmas gift," said Sujit Choudhry, a constitutional lawyer in Toronto representing seven multi-generational families living in Canada, Dubai, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States who challenged what's known as Canada's "second-generation cut-off rule."

"It removes a second-class status that people had because of the accident of where they were born."

Choudhry filed a constitutional challenge in December 2021, suing the federal government for denying his clients the right to transmit their citizenship to their foreign-born offspring.

In a 55-page ruling released this week, Justice Jasmine Akbarali found that the second-generation cut-off rule violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it "treats differently those Canadians who became Canadians at birth because they were born in Canada from those Canadians who obtained their citizenship by descent on their birth outside of Canada.”

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.

Media Release: NDP secures major investment in housing for indigenous peoples

OTTAWA — On Wednesday, New Democrats used their power to force the Liberal government to invest in a For-Indigenous/By-Indigenous housing strategy for First Nations, Métis and Inuit living away from their home community.

A few days after Pierre Poilievre’s cut-and-gut Conservatives voted to cut funding for homes for Indigenous peoples, the NDP is delivering critical funding, and a For-Indigenous/By-Indigenous Centre responsible for channelling the funds through both national and regional Indigenous-led housing organizations. Through the Confidence and Supply Agreement, the NDP used their power to secure $8.3 billion in total federal funding to address the urgent, unmet housing needs of Indigenous people living in urban, rural and northern areas. This includes $4 billion dedicated to community distinctions-based funding and $4.3 billion for First Nations, Inuit and Métis people living away from their home community.

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.

CBC: Victims' families, women's advocates demand RCMP halt plan to dispose of Robert Pickton evidence

The seven-page letter released Monday, titled "A Call To Preserve Evidence In The Pickton Case," is endorsed by nearly three dozen different organizations from across Canada, including several Indigenous women's groups, as well as several academics and other people including Vancouver East MP Jenny Kwan.

The letter is co-signed by Sue Brown, a director and staff lawyer with the group Justice for Girls, and Sasha Reid, who is behind a database of missing people and unsolved murders in Canada.

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.”

Globe: Publisher Jimmy Lai’s son presses Joly to publicly call for father’s release ahead of trial

Jimmy Lai, a British citizen and publisher of Hong Kong’s now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was arrested and charged in December, 2020, under a national-security law imposed by Beijing. Apple Daily shuttered permanently six months later, and other top executives were also arrested.

Ostensibly intended to target secession, subversion and terrorism, the national-security law contains vaguely defined offences that critics say effectively criminalize dissent and opposition. The elder Mr. Lai, who turns 76 on Friday, was accused of conspiring with others to call for sanctions or blockades against Hong Kong or China, or engage in hostile activities.

He faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted. His trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 18. He plans to plead not guilty.