Montreal, Canada – “It's uninhabitable,” Canadian Immigration Minister Mark Miller said of the situation in the Gaza Strip in late December.
At the time, the Palestinian territories were under heavy Israeli shelling. At least 20,000 people were killed and starvation spread at an alarming rate as Israel blocked deliveries of food, water and other essentials.
As the situation continues to worsen, Mr. Miller announced that the Canadian government will launch a special visa program that will allow citizens and permanent residents to bring relatives from Gaza to Canada.
“Let me be clear: today is about providing a humane path to safety and recognizing the importance of keeping families together in light of the ongoing devastation,” he said in December. He told reporters on the 21st.
However, after more than three months, not a single Palestinian applicant has left the Gaza Strip due to the visa program.
This has fueled anger and frustration from families who say Canada has abandoned them and their loved ones, and is demanding action from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.
“What are they waiting for?” asked Samar al-Khudour, a Palestinian mother who has lived in Canada since 2019 and became a permanent resident in February.
Late last month, Al-Qudour began daily sit-ins in front of Miller's office in Montreal, Canada's second-largest city, to pressure the government to expel his relatives from Gaza.
She plans to bring her sister, her sister's husband, and their two children, who are currently living with relatives in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, to Montreal to join her family. .
However, the family's application is still in the early stages of the process, Al-Khudour told Al Jazeera.
“I'm still fighting. I'm working on it,” she said at a sit-in in late March, a black and white keffiyeh slung over her shoulder. “But deep down I’m starting to lose hope.
“And that's probably one of the reasons I'm here, because no one is doing anything.”
