MONTREAL, Canada – Palestinian families are suing the Canadian government over delays in issuing visas that allow them to escape Israel’s deadly war in Gaza and receive temporary protections in Canada.
On behalf of 53 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, filed this month in the federal court of Canada, along with Canadian families, the lawsuit alleges that the country’s special visa program is plagued by inefficiency. .
Hana Marku, a Toronto lawyer representing the family, said all clients submitted a form expressing their interest in the visa within the first month of the launch of the January 2024 scheme.
However, none of them have received the unique reference code needed to move to the next stage of the process. This is a submission of a relative’s Canadian visa application.
Long-term delays leave Gaza-based relatives open to “life-threatening, inhumane circumstances” on Palestinian territory where Israel has been bombarding cities, neighbourhoods and refugee camps for 15 months. It’s become.
“There is no rhyme or reason for how the code is unfolding. The fact that there is no transparency here is emotional torture, frankly,” Marc told Al Jazeera.
“This is emotional torture for Canadian families who have put a financial commitment to the belief that this creates an opportunity to drive their loved ones out of Gaza.”
Canada launched a special Gaza visa program on January 9, 2024, months after the attack on Israeli Palestinian coastal enclaves.
The scheme allowed Canadian citizens and permanent residents to apply to bring extended families from Gaza to the country amid the war. If approved, successful applicants will be temporarily residing for up to three years.
However, from the start, families and immigration lawyers said the process was confusing and includes invasive questions beyond what is usually needed, such as inquiries about injuries and injuries that require medical treatment. I’ve said that.
They also said that Canada did not explain why Palestinian families received the code to submit applications, while others did not.
A spokesman for the federal immigration agency, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) told Al Jazeera that they have reviewed the first phase submissions in “large amounts” and that processing times vary from case to case.
As of January 28, the government had accepted 4,873 Gaza visa applications for processing, the department said.
By the same date, 1,093 people who left Gaza without help from Canadian authorities were approved to come to Canada. In the end, 645 people arrived in the country.
The program will be closed once 5,000 applications reach the processing stage or reach the final cutoff date on April 22nd.
“Driving from Gaza remains extremely difficult due to factors other than Canada’s control. This remains a major issue about how quickly applications from Gazans can be processed,” IRCC said. The spokesman said.
However, Toronto’s lawyer Marc said she has not asked for help in leaving Gaza or a positive decision regarding their relative’s visa request. They want the opportunity to be allowed to submit applications.
“They can’t move on to the next step in this process, they can’t even fill out their applications without being given their own reference code,” she said.
“We are just asking for an order from federal courts to force the federal government to provide these people with their own reference codes, which is what we had to sue. ”
Asked about the lawsuit, the IRCC told Al Jazeera that the government could not comment on certain cases due to privacy concerns.
One of the Canadian-based families involved in the lawsuit, which spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, said the Visa scheme was “designed to not fail and evacuate people” from Gaza. He said.
“They are not serious about this process,” the person said of the Canadian government. “They don’t have a structured system. It’s just a bad system. You have to understand things yourself, that doesn’t make sense.”
The relatives they wanted to bring to Canada remain in Gaza, and it is faulted.
The government media office in Gaza says the total could reach 61,709 given the remains that have yet to be found under the tile rub, but a total of 48,319 Palestinians have died has been confirmed.
The unstable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas last month provided a short reprieve from widespread bombings, but the enclaves are in abandoned, with Palestinians experiencing shortages of food and other basic supplies. We are facing a tragic humanitarian crisis that we have.
A Canadian relative said he made a mental sacrifice to see destruction from afar while struggling to access a Canadian visa. “I’ve never… in my whole life… [had] This kind of pressure is what we want to experience such things,” they added.
Meanwhile, Marc said the lawyers were “working against the clock” before the program closed in April.
Thirty days after the Canadian government filed the lawsuit on February 6th and filed its response, Marc said her team hopes federal courts will quickly agree to their arguments.
“I think leaving people in Limbo is almost worse than rejecting them,” Marc told Al Jazeera. “In this situation, it’s cruel to do this to people.”
Source link
