Canada announces temporary visas for people in Gaza with Canadian relatives

Associated Press
Thu, December 21, 2023 

Hundreds of Palestinian refugees waving Palestinian and Canadian flags request asylum at a rally outside the the Canadian Embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. People in the Gaza Strip who have Canadian relatives may apply for temporary visas to Canada, Canada’s immigration minister said Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. However, the federal government cannot guarantee them safe passage out of the besieged Palestinian territory. Immigration Minister Marc Miller expects the program to be up and running by Jan. 9, 2024.

 (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — People in the Gaza Strip who have Canadian relatives may apply for temporary visas to Canada, the country's immigration minister said Thursday. However, the federal government cannot guarantee safe passage out of the besieged Palestinian territory.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller expects the program to be up and running by Jan. 9. Until now, the government has focused on getting 660 Canadians, permanent residents and their spouses and children out of Gaza.

Miller said the government will start accepting applications for people with extended family connections to Canada, including parents, grandparents, siblings and grandchildren.

He said people will be offered three-year visas if they meet eligibility and admissibility criteria.

Miller said he’s not sure how many people will be able to come to Canada under the program, but he expects the number will be in the hundreds.

Miller said it's been difficult to get Canadians out of Gaza. “We have limited ability,” he said.

Ottawa offers 3-year visas to those in Gaza with Canadian relatives

Darryl Coote
Thu, December 21, 2023 



Dec. 21 (UPI) -- People in Gaza with Canadian relatives will be able to apply for temporary residency, Ottawa announced Thursday, as the death toll in the Palestinian enclave amid Israel's offensive reaches nearly 20,000 with the vast majority of those who live there having been displaced.

Ottawa will work with its partners in the region to help those eligible to leave Gaza but cannot guarantee safe passage since it has no control over the number of people who can exit the besieged enclave through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, immigration Marc Miller of Canada said Thursday during a press conference unveiling the measure.

"We understand that many are concerned about the safety of loved ones in Gaza. It is unlivable," Miller said.

"And as such, we will be supporting temporary residence for extended family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents in Gaza so they can come to Canada and be reunited with their family members residing here."

Ottawa will also prioritize the processing of all existing and new permanent residence applications for Palestinians with family connections to Canada, he said.

"To be clear, today is about providing a humanitarian pathway to safety and recognizing the importance of keeping families together, given the ongoing devastation," he said.

He told reporters that he expects the program will be up and running by Jan. 9, and that those eligible will be granted three-year temporary resident visas.

Eligible family members include the spouse, common-law partner, child, regardless of age, sibling, parent or grandparent of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who must be currently residing in Canada, the federal immigration office said in a release.

Other measures unveiled Thursday include fee-exempt study or open work permits for family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents who have left Israel and the Palestinian territories since the conflict began in October, as well as those already in Canada who feel unsafe returning to the region at this time, said Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

The conflict began Oct. 7, when Hamas launched a bloody surprise attack on Israel that claimed the lives of 1,200 Israelis and an estimated 240 more taken hostage.

Israel has responded with a brutal air and ground offensive that has killed at least 20,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Palestine Ministry of Health, and has displaced 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.2 million residents, according to stats from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled the immigration measures Thursday as it comes under increasing pressure from Palestinian-Canadian families and the New Democratic Party, which said Thursday it welcomes this "long overdue announcement."

"Families have been waiting for this day for too long," NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said in a statement. " Reuniting families with their loved ones in Canada is the right thing to do."

During a separate press conference held Thursday, Ahmad Al-Qadi, an advocacy officer with the National Council of Canadian Muslims -- which has been working to evacuate Canadians from Gaza -- similarly thanked Ottawa for developing these measures while stating he recognizes that for some "it's been a very late announcement."

"Many Canadians have been praying that no more of their family members are murdered or slaughtered in the carnage that has gripped a civilian population for over two months, and many Canadians have lost their family members while waiting," he said.

"While we continue to work with the government, we also want to make it clear here today as we have said before publicly that the status quo solution is not acceptable. the conditions flee are intolerable and there must be a solution to end the violence that is taking the lives of so many innocent civilians, including Canadians."

Israel's Gaza campaign puts its long-term safety at risk -Trudeau

Reuters
Thu, December 21, 2023 

 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a press conference

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Israel's close friends are worried its military campaign in the Gaza Strip is putting at risk the country's long-term safety, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in an interview that aired on Thursday.

His comments mark the latest expression of concern from allies about the spiralling death toll among Gazans, which local health authorities say has hit nearly 20,000. Israeli planes continued to pound the Palestinian enclave on Thursday.

Trudeau has consistently said Israel has the right to defend itself after the deadly rampage by militants of Gaza's ruling Hamas group into Israel on Oct. 7. But as the civilian toll in Israel's devastating retaliatory air and ground war in Gaza has mounted, he has gradually hardened his tone.

Israel's strongest friends "are becoming increasingly concerned that ... the short-term actions being taken by Israel are actually putting at risk the long-term safety (of) and even support for a Jewish state into the future," Trudeau told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Canada, Australia and New Zealand last week backed urgent international efforts towards a "sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza in a coordinated show of concern shortly after the U.S. warned Israel of declining international support.

"Israel has the right and responsibility to defend itself, but it has to be doing so in ways that (are) careful around the impact on civilians," said Trudeau.

He called for humanitarian aid to be sent into besieged Gaza and stressed the importance of fighting antisemitism at home and abroad. The number of antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes in Toronto has spiked significantly since the start of the Gaza conflict, police in Canada's largest city said last month.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Mark Heinrich)