March 18, 2024
The Honourable Marc Miller
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Open letter re: Gaza family reunification measures
Dear Minister Miller,
I am writing once again with urgency about the 1,000-person limit for the family reunification program for Gaza and the inability of your department to communicate to families about the status of their application.
Over the past two months, I have become aware of more than two-hundred Palestinian Canadians with either citizenship or permanent resident status across the country that have applied to sponsor their family members in Gaza to come to Canada through the family reunification program. These families have begun the application process to bring nearly 2,500 loved ones from Gaza in total. Of these family members stuck in Gaza, 78 per cent are still waiting to receive the code from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that is required to proceed to the next phase and complete their application.
Your department has stated that 986 people have received a code and used it to submit a temporary resident visa (TRV) application which has been accepted into processing. It is apparent that the code issuing system works in lockstep with the 1,000-person cap to severely restrict the inflow of applications. It should be abundantly clear that you must lift the cap.
It has been almost seventy days since the program opened for applications on January 9. These families are desperate to know when, or if, loved ones will be allowed to come to Canada. For many, the news is consuming their life as they anxiously await to hear from IRCC officials regarding their application. Yet they are met with radio silence from IRCC. The process is frankly excruciating to for family members. The federal NDP caucus has already condemned this non-communicative approach, called on you to lift the arbitrary cap, and change the discriminatory lens through which this policy approaches Palestinians.
As they wait for codes from IRCC, far too many have told me that as their family members are being killed. They are suffering from displacement and bombardment on top of lacking necessities like food, clean water, medicine, and electricity with the ongoing siege. After struggling for weeks to complete applications due to multiple errors made by IRCC, one family has informed me that three of their loved ones including a young child were shot and killed in a massacre. Other families have informed me of mothers and sisters left crushed beneath rubble after an airstrike hit their home.
The suffering being witnessed in the besieged Gaza Strip cannot be overexaggerated and the government has so far failed to act with the appropriate urgency in both the application process and in ultimately facilitating the freedom of movement of applicants through diplomatic channels.
There are 84 family members I am aware of that have been able to exit the Gaza Strip independent of your government’s assistance, all of whom have TRV applications in progress, and some have previously completed biometric scanning. They require your department’s immediate attention so they can be issued a TRV. In addition, the government cannot rely on people to evacuate themselves through unofficial channels.
Aside from the bombardment, disease and starvation remain an ever-present threat. Many families have told me that their children are without food to eat or clean water to drink. One sister is eight months pregnant and lives with her family in a tent because they are among the 1.9 million displaced people in Gaza. Other family members have been injured in fights over the little food that is available.
After the continued inaction of this government, the poor communication, the discriminatory standards and exceptionally invasive background checks, the lack of transparency and the absence of any successful outcomes, the sense of betrayal is palpable. Given the horrific situation Palestinian Canadians and their family members in Gaza are faced with, this entire program is at risk of amounting to nothing more than another exercise in dehumanizing Palestinians. Still, there must be a path forward for Canada to help save the lives of these family members.
Enclosed for your reference is a list of families that are stuck in the process and need your department’s attention so that they can move forward to complete their application.
In addition to lifting the 1,000-person cap, I reiterate the call for the government to ensure adequate transparency, waive application fees, expand the criteria for eligible family members, urgently facilitate travel for those in Gaza and those who have been able to exit Gaza without the help of your government using diplomatic channels, and meaningfully and genuinely advocate for the right to life and freedom of movement of all Palestinians.
Finally, I reiterate the NDP’s call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
Sincerely,
Jenny Kwan
MP for Vancouver East
NDP Critic for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship
