Displaced Palestinians take shelter in a tent camp at the border with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 7.IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/Reuters
The federal government is facing mounting criticism over an immigration program that’s meant to reunite Canadians and permanent residents with their relatives who are trapped in Gaza. People trying to bring their loved ones here, and the lawyers representing them, say the program is restrictive, confusing and intrusive.
The Globe spoke with several Palestinian-Canadians and permanent residents, as well as lawyers who are counselling or representing them, about the challenges they’ve faced.
Lawyers and applicants take issue with the form they fill out on behalf of their relatives because of both the nature of the questions asked and the challenge retrieving answers from their relatives in Gaza, where communication infrastructure is unreliable and internet shortages are common.
Among other questions, applicants are asked if they have scars or injuries that have required medical attention and how they sustained them. They are asked for links to their social-media accounts, previous work history dating back years, including supervisors’ names, reasons for leaving the job and any disciplinary issues. The Globe spoke with five immigration lawyers and none of them had ever seen applicants fleeing a war zone required to answer questions about whether they have injuries and how they’ve sustained them.
Debbie Rachlis, an immigration lawyer in Toronto, says she has been doing her job 8½ years “and I have never seen such a disastrous program rollout.”
In January, the federal government launched the program, which offers temporary resident visas to Palestinians in Gaza who are extended family members of Canadian citizens or permanent residents willing to support their relatives. Spouses, common-law partners, children, grandchildren, siblings, parents and grandparents are eligible. The government capped the program at 1,000 people but Immigration Minister Marc Miller has said he’s willing to be flexible.
There are several steps to apply for a temporary resident visa. First, applicants in Gaza or their representative residing in Canada submit an online form with required documents. Then, they wait to receive a reference code. Once they receive a code, they can submit a temporary resident visa application online. If the application is complete, it will be processed. Applicants are reviewed, including security screening based on the enhanced biographical information, to determine eligibility and preliminary admissibility to Canada.
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IRCC says that families with no eligibility or admissibility concerns who are physically able to leave Gaza will have their biometrics collected in a third country. Once the application is finalized, IRCC will render a decision.
Matthew Krupovich, a spokesperson for IRCC, said that, since Jan. 29, the department has accepted 967 applications into processing. He said processing times will vary.
The government has said it’s working with partners in the region to facilitate the exit of Canadians, permanent residents and those eligible under the program, but that movement out of Gaza remains challenging and may not be possible because of exit requirements set by countries and other actors in the region.
On Wednesday, Mr. Miller said it was “immensely frustrating” seeing Gazans unable to leave Gaza. “Perhaps there is some trepidation by people on the ground as to whether to let these folks out, but it’s humanitarian gesture and it’s immensely frustrating for me,” he said on Parliament Hill.
But people trying to bring their relatives here are also frustrated. Lawyers who are assisting families say sometimes they submit documents only to hear back from IRCC that something is missing, but without any clarifying explanation.
Ammar Fawzy, a Palestinian-Canadian living in Stouffville, Ont., said the process of bringing his elderly parents and sister here has been overwhelming. His dad is 80 and his mom is 72.
“It was honestly long, sleepless nights trying to complete all of the forms required,” he said. While he’s gathering information, his family is constantly being forced to move. Just this past weekend, he said, they moved for the 17th time following an air strike close to their building.
Mr. Fawzy said some of the requirements seem basic, such as passports and current work details, and others are are unrealistic and discriminatory, such as tracking down work supervisors’ names from years ago, questions about scars or injuries and addresses of homes in a conflict zone.
He said his mom cried when he asked for her address because they have been displaced so many times. He said they have submitted all of their documents and are waiting for the next steps.
“We honestly wake up multiple times at night just to check our e-mails and see if there are any from IRCC,” he said, adding that his wife also applied for her family to come to Canada, but hasn’t received the code required to submit an application.
Mr. Krupovich said the questions on the form are part of a standard practice in crisis situations where IRCC does not have a presence on the ground. He said the government also did this in Afghanistan.
“To support the movement of Palestinians out of Gaza and to protect the health and safety of Canadians, a multistage security screening approach has been developed.”
He said the additional background information established in the forms allows the department to begin conducting preliminary security screening while the applicant is still in Gaza.
Even after completing these steps, people are left anxiously waiting.
Haneen Hamdouna said she only hears from her sister in Gaza when she manages to catch a signal. If it’s a weak connection, the only message Ms. Hamdouna receives from her is one hastily written that says she’s still alive.
Ms. Hamdouna, a 38-year-old permanent resident who lives in Edmonton, applied for her sister, brother-in-law and their three young children to come to Canada through the government’s immigration program for extended family members of Palestinians living in Gaza.
She applied with the help of Sofia Ijaz, a refugee and immigration lawyer in Toronto. Ms. Hamdouna’s sister received a request to collect her biometrics (which are unique physical identifiers, such as fingerprints), but IRCC hasn’t provided instructions on how to complete this step and the Canadian government has no facilities on the ground in Gaza.
In the meantime, Ms. Hamdouna said, her family is living in a tent by the sea. She said they’re cold, they rarely eat and her eight-year-old nephew has sustained a head injury from a piece of shrapnel.
“When the Canadian government opened this special program, my sister and I had big hopes and now with every day passing, I’m always scared to hear something bad happened to her,” she said.
The entire process has been difficult, she said. But her experience is not unique. She said she’s in a WhatsApp group full of people experiencing challenges.
“We heard many people could not apply, go through the process, there are family members who died before they could even apply,” she said.
Ms. Ijaz said they were asked to provide proof of residence in Gaza, which is challenging for people who have been displaced multiple times. She said they provided to IRCC a photo of the tent that Ms. Hamdouna’s sister is sheltering in to make it clear where they’re living.
Imtenan Abd-El-Razik, an immigration lawyer in Waterloo, Ont., used to work on refugee claims, assisting people coming from areas of conflict, and said she has never seen questions like the ones Palestinians are being asked.
She said even under less stressful circumstances, applications can take weeks for people to pull together. Now, she said, applicants are living in tents eating one or half a meal a day, trying to evade air strikes – and sometimes there is a complete blackout preventing any communication.
“How can you do this process at all, let alone an elevated version of it, and expect that the results are going to be correct and timely? It’s just very unrealistic. It doesn’t take into account how people are actually living.”
Ms. Rachlis, the immigration lawyer in Toronto who is representing a Canadian citizen trying to bring his family members here, said IRCC did not acknowledge forms that she submitted, or they indicated a form was incomplete without specifying what was missing.
“I’m aware of a few other lawyers who experienced this and we have no idea. We have received no answers,” she said.
The bureaucratic delay means her clients may not be able to leave.
Warda Shazadi Meighen, a partner at Landings LLP, said the government needs to make sure that the information it’s requiring is absolutely essential to security. It also needs to be responsive to how quickly people need to get out.
“I have concerns that we may be overstepping here.”
Ms. Ijaz emphasized the importance of expediting the process. “Literally every hour makes a difference between life or death. That’s something I hope the officers working on these files are thinking about and are mindful of.”