On Tuesday, July 20, please take two minutes to write and call in support of 25 war-traumatized Gaza children and 11 spouses desperately seeking to come to Canada and be reunited with their moms/dads and other siblings. (Sample emails and messages below!) Every day they are left behind is a day of fearing murderous attacks. On July 1, the new Israeli PM promised Palestinians in Gaza that the next time, "it will be more lethal than before.” Many of these families were blown out of their homes or lost neighbours and friends. Applications for the necessary permits are piling up in overseas visa posts. They must be processed NOW!
Our demand is simple: 25 children and 11 spouses MUST receive the permits necessary to leave war-ravaged Gaza and be reunited in Canada with their Convention Refugee loved ones NO LATER than July 28, which is the 70th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
Applications for these permits have been sitting with overseas visa posts since late June. Given the ongoing crisis in Gaza and threat of renewed hostilities, there is no excuse for further delay. In early June, 2021, Canada granted Early Entrance Temporary Resident Permits to the Gaza-based husband and children of Ottawa Palestinian refugee Jihan Qunoo 13 days after her family applied. The other 11 families must have their cases expedited in a similar manner.
These 25 kids, and 11 spouses, have already suffered a devastating 2-3 year separation from their loved ones in Canada, all of whom are Palestinian refugees whose permanent residence applications are pending. Because the processing period averages 39 months, and because the outbreak of new hostilities is ever present, we are calling for the immediate issuance of Early Entrance Temporary Resident Permits to allow for their immediate reunification.
Leaving them in "the hell on earth for children that is Gaza," as the UN notes, is unconscionable. Without reunification, they remain exposed to further physical and emotional harm and trauma, and a family separation that could be as long as 5 to 6 years.
No child should be forced to wait 5 years to hug their parent. No child should be left in a war zone.
Sample email (feel free to personalize—why is this important to you?)
To: IRCC.Minister-Ministre.IRCC@cic.gc.ca, Marco.Mendicino@parl.gc.ca
Cc: Marc.Garneau@parl.gc.ca, Soraya.MartinezFerrada@parl.gc.ca, tasc@web.ca, Jenny.Kwan@parl.gc.ca, Chandra.Arya@parl.gc.ca, Peter.Schiefke@parl.gc.ca, Kamal.Khera@parl.gc.ca, Yasmin.Ratansi@parl.gc.ca, Salma.Zahid@parl.gc.ca, Catrina.Tapley@cic.gc.ca, mona.fortier@parl.gc.ca, Marwan.Tabbara@parl.gc.ca, Paul.Manly@parl.gc.ca, Iqra.khalid@parl.gc.ca, Joel.Lightbound@parl.gc.ca, Ruby.Sahota@parl.gc.ca, Lenore.Zann@parl.gc.ca, Majid.Jowhari@parl.gc.ca, Elizabeth.May@parl.gc.ca, Pam.Damoff@parl.gc.ca
Dear Marco Mendicino,
I am writing today in support of the 11 Gaza refugee families in Canada who urgently need immediate Early Entrance Temporary Resident Permits. This is for 25 children and 11 spouses who have not seen their loved ones for 2 to 3 years, and who may not see them for another 39 months. This is unacceptable in the midst of a humanitarian crisis where the lethal threat of military violence continues to hang over their heads.
Applications for these families are already on the desks of the overseas visa posts. They should be processed on an urgent, expedited basis.
The best interests of affected children and Canada’s commitment to family reunification demand urgent action on these cases. It would be unconscionable to leave them in Gaza for at least another three years (the average processing time for permanent reside applications) after UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared, "If there is a hell on earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza.”
Canada has a history of enacting such measures in response to humanitarian crises. Recently, IRCC announced a temporary residence public policy for in-Canada families of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 tragedies. Last September, similar assistance was extended to those with loved ones affected by the horrific Beirut explosion. Following the December, 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, Canada waived fees and granted priority processing to hundreds of affected permanent resident applicants.
In the summer of 2018, Canada issued a Temporary Resident Permit to a B.C. refugee teenager so he could play baseball. In early June, 2021, Canada granted Early Entrance Temporary Resident Permits to the Gaza-based husband and children of Ottawa Palestinian refugee Jihan Qunoo, who fled Gaza in 2019. They received those permits 13 days after applying. I am joining many others in calling on you to do the same for these Gaza families in Canada, whose circumstances enduring a humanitarian crisis match the conditions that gave rise to Qunoo’s happy family reunion.
Last year, Prime Minister Trudeau marked World Refugee Day by declaring: “Canada stands in solidarity with the millions of people around the world who long for what is often taken for granted: a safe place to call home. We will continue to do our part to support refugees and forcibly displaced people….All countries share a moral responsibility to help refugees and forcibly displaced people find shelter and start their lives anew.”
You also tweeted last November that "Our government strongly believes in the importance of keeping families together—particularly during difficult times. Now, more than ever, family reunification is an important component of Canada’s immigration system.”
Answering this call to reunite in-Canada Palestinian refugee families with children and spouses facing such difficult times while stuck in Gaza will help give true life to that commitment.
Time is short, tensions are high, and misery is growing. I look forward to positive news that you will issue blanket Early Entrance Temporary Resident Permits to the children and spouses of in-Canada Palestinian refugees. Please act before it is too late. As one father told CBC after the mid-June week’s escalation of violence, "This time, a friend or a neighbour gets killed. Next time, will it be my child?”
NAME
CITY, Province
SAMPLE CALL
Marco Mendicino’s office (leave a message if you can): 613-992-6361, 416-781-5583
If the lines are full (or if you have an extra minute, please call Parliamentary Secretary to the Immigration Minister, Peter Schiefke 613-957-3744 (or, if full, 450-510-2305)
Hi, my name is XXX and I'm calling from XXXXXXXXX to support the Palestinian refugee families in Canada who are trying to bring their kids and spouses here from Gaza while their permanent residency applications are processed. The ceasefire is fragile, the conditions of daily life are desperate. The kids are traumatized, their loved ones here sick with fear. Canada issued a permit to reunite the family of an Ottawa refugee from Gaza in June within 13 days of receiving her application. We would like to see Early Entrance Temporary Resident Permits issued to the other members of this modest-sized group of Palestinian refugees who are in crisis. This would be in keeping with our commitment to family reunification. Please act before it is too late.”
BACKGROUND
These 25 kids are traumatized children yearning for a parent’s comforting hugs or dreaming of a safe playground without bomb craters. They are spouses unable to build lives together. They are families for whom each moment apart is a cruel punishment.
Since May, The Rural Refugee Right Network, the 11 Palestinian refugee families, and many supporters have called on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Minister Marco Mendicino to urgently enact special immigration measures (including, but not limited to, the blanket issuance of Early Entrance Temporary Resident Permits) to immediately reunite these families. The best interests of affected children and Canada’s commitment to family reunification demand urgent action on these cases. It would be unconscionable to leave them in Gaza for at least another three years after UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared, "If there is a hell on earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza.”
Canada has a history of enacting such measures in response to humanitarian crises. Recently, IRCC announced a temporary residence public policy for in-Canada families of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 tragedies. Last September, similar assistance was extended to those with loved ones affected by the horrific Beirut explosion. Following the December, 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, Canada waived fees and granted priority processing to hundreds of affected permanent resident applicants.
In the summer of 2018, Canada issued a Temporary Resident Permit to a B.C. refugee teenager so he could play baseball. In early June, 2021, Canada granted Early Entrance Temporary Resident Permits to the Gaza-based husband and children of Ottawa Palestinian refugee Jihan Qunoo, who fled Gaza in 2019. The conditions faced by Qunoo’s family are no different than those impacting this group of refugees from Gaza. Despite the closure of Canada’s border due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, reunification of immediate and extended family members with their loved ones in Canada has been at the forefront of the exceptions to the travel restrictions that are currently in place.
The current conditions in Gaza constitute a humanitarian crisis that UNICEF concludes “adds to existing vulnerabilities and [is] likely to increase poverty, vulnerability and loss of livelihoods exacerbating an already dire situation.” Shortages of food, fuel, clean water, and medicine, compounded by extensive infrastructure damage, and a trauma that is particularly devastating for children and young couples, are just part of the daily life endured by separated family members who could begin the path to health and healing once reunited in Canada as they await processing of their permanent residency applications.
Coupled with these poor conditions is the fragile security situation in Gaza which, the Government of Canada acknowledges, “could deteriorate with little or no notice.” On May 28, 2021, Global Affairs Canada listed the Gaza Strip as a place to which one should “avoid all travel” due to “the possible resumption of armed hostilities.”
We call on the Minister to immediately enact whatever measures are necessary to issue early entrance temporary resident permits to allow similar family reunification in the cases of in-Canada Palestinian refugees who have been found to be persons in need of protection and who have submitted permanent residence applications. Such a policy must be flexible enough to also include those in-Canada Palestinian refugee claimants who, following successful hearings, submit permanent resident applications during the remainder of 2021.
On October 5, 2020, Minister Mendicino tweeted: "Our government strongly believes in the importance of keeping families together—particularly during difficult times. Now, more than ever, family reunification is an important component of Canada’s immigration system.”
Thanks for your support
You can also support the work of the Rural Refugee Rights Network, with an etransfer to tasc@web.ca or a cheque to Homes not Bombs, 2583 Carling Ave. Unit M052, Ottawa ON K2B 7H7.