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

January 4, 2024

The Honourable Marc Miller
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Via email: [email protected]

Dear Minister Miller,

Open Letter Re: Arbitrary cap of 1,000 applications for special family reunification measures for Gaza

We bring to your attention our concerns about the serious shortcomings of the temporary immigration measures to reunite Canadians and permanent residents with their extended family members that was announced on December 21st, 2023.

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.”

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification assessed that more than 90 per cent of the population of Gaza cannot find their next meal. Oxfam’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Director, Sally Abi Khalil, has said that “Israel’s attacks have decimated Gaza’s already fragile food system so catastrophically that most people are no longer able to feed themselves and their families. People are being starved in Gaza.”

In this catastrophic environment families in Canada with loved ones trapped in Gaza should not be pitted against each other out of fear that their application will not be considered when the arbitrary 1,000 applications quota is filled.

Minister, the special immigration measure you announced just prior to the holiday break gave families a glimmer of hope in the face of a very dark and bleak time. We are pleading with you to not make a desperate situation even more unbearable. We therefore are calling for the government to immediately retract the cap on temporary resident visa applications.

The world is fraught with overwhelming humanitarian crises. Canada has set an important standard with the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET). Over 936,000 people have been approved through the CUAET with over 210,000 of those individuals having arrived safely in Canada. Meanwhile, your government’s reluctance to welcome any more than a mere 1,000 individuals from Gaza, despite their ties to Canada, is a glaring contrast between your department’s impetus to extend compassionate humanitarian measures to the innocent civilians of Gaza when compared with innocent civilians fleeing Ukraine.

We know that civilian life in Gaza is no less threatened by Israel’s devastating siege and bombardment than civilian life in Ukraine is threatened by Russia’s illegal invasion. We are therefore calling on the government to apply the same standard that was afforded to Ukrainians. The cap on applications must be lifted.

We are also urging the government to waive the fees for the temporary resident visa applications for this special immigration measure. While we are aware that there is family rate for families of no more than 6 per unit, however, it’s is quite plausible that this would not encapsulate the size of many families. Given the cost to bring family members to safety will only mount with each step of the process, any goodwill in assistance to help alleviate the financial pressure would be much appreciated by the community.

Furthermore, we urge the government to reconsider the eligibility rules to include extended family members of siblings. Already families in Canada have reached out to indicate their deep concern that many of their loved ones will be left behind.

In addition, we wish to raise our concerns that the special immigration measure will exclude those who are not in Gaza at time of application. We are aware that some had to travel out of Gaza for short term work obligations just days prior to October 7th, 2023. Many others have managed to travel out of Gaza on or since October 7th, for instance by crossing the Rafah border to Egypt with their Canadian/permanent resident relatives prior to the announcement of the special immigration measure. (We are advised by the community that more than 50 families (approximately 300 members) are caught out in this situation). These individuals cannot return to Gaza at this time, and their short time admittance to Egypt will come to an end. This puts them in an impossible situation, and it would be devasting to exclude them from the special immigration measure.

We know the situation is extremely difficult and we hope that the government can address the concerns we have raised. We thank you for the briefing that was offered to MPs and Senators after the special immigration measure was announced and appreciate the opportunity to seek clarification about the program during the briefing. While we have not repeated those questions here, we are still hopeful that we can still receive responses from IRCC about other details of the temporary immigration measures and answers to our questions from that briefing.

Lastly, we should also note that we remain deeply concerned about reports of Israeli official's ongoing stated intention of the forcible transfer of the Palestinians from the Occupied Territories contrary to international law, we also want to acknowledge and reaffirm the principle of the “right to return” for Palestinian refugees as derived from United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194(III), passed in December 1948, which states that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.”

We look forward to your urgent attention and response.

Sincerely,

Jenny Kwan
Member of Parliament for Vancouver East
NDP Critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship