Family Reunification February Call to Action: Canada Must Urgently Complete all Gaza Applications and Open the Borders During Ceasefire

 (Details on letter writing, phone calls, and Family Day public vigils below)

 During the first several weeks of February, please take the simple actions described below to ensure we can save the lives of loved ones in the Palestinian Canadian community.

THE ISSUE
During the fragile temporary ceasefire in Gaza – one whose second phase may not come to pass, especially given the daily violations by Israeli forces that have killed over 80 Palestinians in Gaza – Canada has a rare but very brief opportunity to fix the Gaza temporary residence program.

As the much criticized Gaza program marked its 1-year anniversary January 9, some 4,700 applications had been received, but only 616 individuals had arrived in Canada. None received Canadian assistance exiting Gaza; rather, those lucky enough to escape and their Canadian sponsors exhausted life savings to pay exorbitant border crossing fees into Egypt. An estimated 3,500+ applications remain unprocessed after more than a year.

The punishingly slow pace of visa processing for Gazans – a paltry average of 2.5 applications completed per day, with a lethal waiting time for some of over a year – stands in stark contrast to the Canada–Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program. During CUAET’s first year, Canada welcomed 129,000 Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion and approved over half a million visas (an average of 1,370 applications per day), usually within a two-week turnaround. Canada waived security screening for those aged up to 17 and over 61, and dropped a required medical exam despite the Ukrainian population’s much higher risk of carrying tuberculosis, which Ottawa conceded “posed potential health risks to Canada.”  

Similarly, Canada welcomed over 8,000 Israeli visa holders during 2024. Palestinian Canadians and refugee advocates point to such figures as clear proof of a painful, discriminatory double standard that fails to adequately respond to what Canadian officials acknowledge are “catastrophic conditions” in Gaza.

To make best use of this short ceasefire time frame, Canadian immigration officials must urgently devote the same energy they invested into the Ukraine program, complete remaining Gaza applications (which could be done over 3 business days based on the Ukraine program pace), and negotiate with the Egyptian government and the Israeli regime for the rapid exit of Canadians’ loved ones.

TAKE ACTION
Write to and Call Immigration Minister Marc Miller and Global Affairs Minister Melanie Joly to demand they take immediate urgent action to save the lives of Canadians’ loved ones still in Gaza and those languishing in Egypt.

 Sample Letter (feel free to personalize this and change up the subject line as well)  

Subject: Urgently Process all Gaza Visa Applications; Ensure Safe, Speedy Exits!

To:  IRCC.Minister-Ministre.IRCC@cic.gc.ca,  Minister@cic.gc.ca, Melanie.Joly@parl.gc.ca, Melanie.Joly@international.gc.ca, marc.miller@parl.gc.ca

Cc: Pam.Damoff@parl.gc.ca, rob.oliphant@parl.gc.ca, Paul.Chiang@parl.gc.ca, Harpreet.Kochhar@cic.gc.ca, Scott.Harris@cic.gc.ca, Salma.Zahid@parl.gc.ca, tasc@web.ca, pm@pm.gc.ca,  ps.ministerofpublicsafety-ministredelasecuritepublique.sp@canada.ca
 

Dear Ms Joly and Mr. Miller,

The devastation in Gaza grows more serious by the day, and the risk of renewed carpet bombing by Israeli forces continues to increase.

I am writing to you to urge that you take emergency action to immediately process all remaining Gaza visa applications and ensure that those applicants will be able to exit Gaza and make it to either Egypt or Jordan on their way to being reunited in Canada no later than Family Day, February 17, 2025. You must also immediately approve for travel the almost 1,000 loved ones of Canadians languishing in Egypt who have been waiting more than a year.

You have both expressed frustration and even admitted the Gaza visa program was a failure as early as February 2024, but have done little to fix it. As a result, hundreds of lives of those hoping to escape have been wiped out.  It is clear, however, that both Canadian immigration and Global Affairs officials have the capacity to not only immediately process the remaining 3500+ applications in a very short time frame (it would take 3 days based on the pace of the Ukraine program), but also to leverage your diplomatic relationship with the Israeli regime to facilitate the exit of Canadians’ loved ones. This is a rare opportunity to act and prevent further losses in a genocide that has only been suspended temporarily, with many indications that it is set to resume.

The average number of Gaza applications processed per day – 2 to 3 – has utterly failed to meet the moment (especially when 1,370 Ukraine applications were processed daily). Other countries like Australia have been able to get the loved ones of their citizens out of Gaza without going through the obstructive Israeli border authorities. 

Canada must do the same in the coming weeks before it is once again too late.  As most people in Gaza return to their utterly destroyed former homes, they are seeing for the first time the complete obliteration of the lives they had before the current slaughter, one that some medical experts believe has wiped out 10% of the population, decimated the health care system, destroyed food distribution networks, and eliminated basic services like sewage treatment and water purification.

Canada must take the lives of Palestinians seriously. I join in the voices of those who are tired of your excuses blaming others for your failure to do the right thing and step up to save lives.  I urge you to act now, as Palestinian Canadians and supporters have been urging you to do for the past 16 months, before it is too late. 

Sadly, it is too late for those who could have survived had Canada cared enough to push for their right to live.

But it is never too late to recognize failure and fix it when lives are on the line.

Instead of writing a form letter back to me, I instead urge you to devote all staff time to addressing this crisis

Name
City/Town

Sample Phone Call
(Feel free to use your own wording, but please, do NOT leave hostile or abusive messages, as that will only hurt this effort. ALSO call your own MP as well. You may or may not get an answering machine (if you do, please leave a polite message)

Mélanie Joly (Foreign Affairs)
613-992-0983 (Ottawa office)
514-383-3709 (Montreal office)

Hi, my name is XXXXXXXX and I'm calling from XXXXXXX. I am shocked that Canada has failed the people of Gaza. I am shocked that Canada has only processed 2 applications a day when people are trying to escape a genocide and that there are still 3500 unfinished applications. During this fragile ceasefire, I am urging that you take every possible step to engage Egypt and Israel to ensure the immediate exit of the loved ones of Canadians under the Gaza temporary residence program.  

Marc Miller (Immigration)
Ottawa office: 613-995-6403

Hi, my name is XXXXXXXX and I'm calling from XXXXXXX. I am shocked that Canada has failed the people of Gaza. I am shocked that Canada has only processed 2 applications a day when people are trying to escape a genocide and that there are still 3,500 unfinished applications. During this fragile ceasefire, I am urging that you assign the necessary staff to urgently finish application processing so that everyone waiting to be reunited with their loved ones in Canada is ready to leave within one week’s time. You did this for Ukrainians. You did this for Israelis. You can do it for Palestinians.

Please call Justin Trudeau at 613-992-4211 with a similar message

Vigils
Hold a Family Reunification Vigil sometime during February (including the Family Day Weekend, February 17) at a Liberal MP’s office or federal government building. Ask that those MPs put pressure on the federal government to act urgently. Bring pictures of loved ones. Need help or have questions? Contact us at tasc@web.ca

For more information contact the Rural Refugee Rights Network and the Gazan Canadians League at tasc@web.ca  

Canada Must Urgently Process Gaza Visa Applications During Ceasefire Window

 

By Matthew Behrens

 As a fragile temporary ceasefire takes hold in Gaza – one whose second phase may not come to pass, given the governing Israeli coalition’s reliance on members opposed to the deal – Canada has a rare but very brief opportunity to belatedly fix its modest Gaza temporary residence program, one that Immigration Minister Marc Miller had already concluded was a failure six weeks after its launch.

As the much criticized Gaza program marked its 1-year anniversary January 9, some 4,700 applications had been received, but only 616 individuals had arrived in Canada. None received Canadian assistance exiting Gaza; rather, those lucky enough to escape and their Canadian sponsors exhausted life savings to pay exorbitant border crossing fees into Egypt. An estimated 3,500+ applications remain unprocessed.

 The punishingly slow pace of visa processing for Gazans – a paltry average of 2.5 applications completed per day, with a lethal waiting time for some of over a year – stands in stark contrast to the Canada–Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program. During CUAET’s first year, Canada welcomed 129,000 Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion and approved over half a million visas (an average of 1,370 applications per day), usually within a two-week turnaround. Canada waived security screening for those aged up to 17 and over 61, and dropped a required medical exam despite the Ukrainian population’s much higher risk of carrying tuberculosis, which Ottawa conceded “posed potential health risks to Canada.”  

Similarly, Canada welcomed over 8,000 Israeli visa holders during 2024. Palestinian Canadians and refugee advocates point to such figures as clear proof of a painful, discriminatory double standard that fails to adequately respond to what Canadian officials acknowledge are “catastrophic conditions” in Gaza.

 While some 600 individuals still in Gaza were pre-approved last year for Canadian visas contingent on completing final biometric security screening in Egypt, they  remained in limbo as their names gathered dust on a list at the Israeli Coordinator of the Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which has thus far failed to issue exit permits. Advocates were informed last week that the Canadian list is now considered outdated, and all names will have to be submitted anew, a further delay that exposes applicants to the ongoing threats of disease, death from exposure, and malnutrition that will only worsen if the ceasefire ends.  

While other governments – notably Australia – were able to facilitate the exit of thousands of Palestinians until the May closing of the Rafah border crossing, Miller glumly waved the white flag, claiming there was nothing Canada could do. Even if that were the case, it failed to explain why upwards of 1,000 Canadian visa applicants have been stranded for close to a year in Cairo, with no access to employment, education, medical care, or income supports.  

The Gaza immigration program has been controversial since its launch, from racial profiling questions to a ridiculously low cap. Palestinian community members have felt unwelcome – baselessly smeared as security risks – while Gaza health care workers seeking visas were asked questions violating patient confidentiality. Some of those lucky enough to arrive have faced rude and intimidating airport questioning from Canadian border officers, while others have struggled to receive provincial health care coverage. (Ontario relented last month, but Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador still refuse access).

 While there’s temporary relief that bombs are no longer falling in Gaza, current conditions remain unlivable for the vast majority of the 2.1 million people squeezed into an area 1/7th the size of Ottawa.

To make best use of this short ceasefire time frame, Canadian immigration officials must urgently devote the same energy they invested into the Ukraine program, complete remaining Gaza applications (which could be done over 3 business days based on the CUAET pace), and negotiate with the Egyptian government and COGAT for the rapid exit of Canadians’ loved ones.

 After 15 months of inexcusable Canadian program failures, it’s the least we can do to fulfill our promise to reunite Canadian families with their traumatized loved ones.

 Matthew Behrens coordinates the Rural Refugee Rights Network. 

Support Abousfian Abdelrazik as Canadian Complicity in Torture Trial Concludes (Online and in Ottawa)

 

Join us in court beginning January 29 to 31 in Ottawa or online for the final submissions in the landmark case focused on Canadian complicity in the arbitrary detention, torture and exile of Abousfian Abdelrazik.

To register online to observe proceedings, visit: https://cas-satj.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fSbwmniiRZ2f7_T7xFLkGg 

To receive court location details for Ottawa, contact tasc@web.ca

Abousfian Abdelrazik is “the victim of a series of gross injustices attributable directly or indirectly to Canadian state actors, including arbitrary and illegal detention, prolonged solitary confinement, torture, and forced exile and separation from his home and young children. These breaches of the Plaintiff’s fundamental human rights were flagrant, extreme and continuous over a period of six years. Most egregiously, many senior Canadian officials were fully aware that Canada could have ended the Plaintiff’s cruel and unjust ordeal at any moment by simply securing a flight home to Montreal. In this action, he seeks redress and compensation that vindicates his Charter rights and is proportionate to the unprecedented seriousness of this wrongful state conduct.” (from his lawsuit).

Paul Champ, Mr. Abdelrazik's lawyer, recalls: "I was in the room in July 2009 when Mr Abdelrazik was reunited with his children in Montreal. It was a moment I’ll never forget. When he later asked if I would help to bring a claim for damages for these egregious violations of his rights, I agreed. I didn’t imagine I would still be fighting this case over 15 years later."

Canada has a loathsome history of rendering Muslim citizens to torture abroad and being complicit in their torture. The case of Abousfian Abdlerazik is the first time such a case has been hear at trial, which took place over 7 weeks during the fall.

When a combination of civic action and a court action successfully brought him home in 2009, Abdelrazik told the Globe and Mail a “ chilling account of six years of imprisonment and forced exile abroad… Mr. Abdelrazik recounted stories of interrogation and alleged torture. He told of Canadian Security and Intelligence Service agents laughingly saying "Sudan will be your Guantanamo" when he begged to be allowed to return home.

His ordeal - described as Kafkaesque by the federal court judge who ordered him repatriated - is far from ended. But the Harper government made it clear that Mr. Abdelrazik couldn't expect any support in his efforts to remove his name from the UN list.

Mr. Abdelrazik said one of the two CSIS interrogators was the same agent who questioned him at his home two days before he flew to Khartoum in March of 2003. Mr. Abdelrazik said he had called the Montreal police to get the CSIS agents to leave.

"One of them, he turned and said to me, 'You will see…' " he said.

Although CSIS denies it arranged for Mr. Abdelrazik to be imprisoned in Sudan, heavily redacted government documents say he was arrested "at our request," meaning Canada's.
After months in solitary with little food and occasional torture, Mr. Abdelrazik said one day his Sudanese jailers told him the "Canadian muhabarat want to talk to me," using the feared Arabic term for secret police.

Mr. Abdelrazik says he was taken to a room with a table laden "with cakes and fruits and juice and bottles of water," but before he could say anything, one of the CSIS agents said, "Remember I told you in Montreal that 'You will see,' … and now, you will see."

Mr. Abdelrazik said he begged to be allowed to go home and offered to face any charges the agents wanted to press.

"I am not going to help a terrorist," the CSIS agent replied, according to Mr. Abdelrazik. The agent added that Mr. Abdelrazik was "Sudanese, not a Canadian, and should stay in Sudan forever."

"My country doesn't need you," the CSIS agent said. After the two left, Mr. Abdelrazik said the worst period of torture and abuse began.

Stay in touch at Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, tasc@web.ca 

https://www.facebook.com/events/585215024296593

Some background videos and history:

In May 2009, 225 people defied Canadian law and purchased an airline ticket for Abousfian Abdelrazik. He had been tortured in Sudan with Canadian complicity. He was prevented from coming home by Ottawa because of CSIS lies about state security. CSIS had told Abdelrazik "Sudan will be your Guantanamo." Ottawa issued a warning: anyone providing financial support to Abdelrazik risked prosecution and 10 years imprisonment.

As Abdelrazik occupied a cot at the Canadian embassy for over a year, groups like Project Fly Home and Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture worked to bring him home. Finally, when then Global Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon refused to issue travel documents (and failed to have us charged), Mr. Abdelrazik's lawyers (Yavar Hameed, Paul Champ, Audrey Brousseau, Khalid  Elgazzar) went to Federal Court and won a repatriation order. Canadians have a right to return home.

The day before court, the Wizard of Oz characters took to the streets with hundreds to chant There's No Place Like Home, including Murray Lumley (Tin Person), Tom Smarda (Scarecrow), Beth Guthrie (Glinda the Good Witch), Matthew Behrens (Cowardly Lion) and Kirsten Romaine (Dorothy Gale).

Video of that event:

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMIvK4AFMDw&t=265s

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ-BKbR6pmw

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62sGo6AHvW8

Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2ZjygBoLC0

Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gTjSZhPcCM

Part 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVuOoaiqSeM

An Ottawa Rally at the same time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stLm8c1vhq0

Abdelrazik arrives in Canada: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoN7LXisOUE

Interview with Abousfian after he was home and trying to get off the UN 1267 List: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftG47TXoh_E

Abousfian speaks at House of Commons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xxZTmzrJlM

When the CLC gave Abousfian a sanctions-busting salary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egRcxb0FAYU

Abousfian Abdelrazik talks about why he should be taken off the United Nations' terror watch list as shown to the UN sanctions committee in New York: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aD46CTW0KI

Documents suggest Canada's spies lied to Sudan to keep an innocent man in prison, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewb4WzS0DFI

Part 1of the Abdelrazik Speaking Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7tm322hFRg

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVX2nbA7mHI

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7lcWYWvIA4

Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvIn4hHwxP0

Prism TV Documentary, 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih19ndPVaTs