Please take two minutes to write and call (samples below) to save the life of Mamdouh Abusbitan, who is simultaneously starving to death while desperate to avoid incineration by drone strike, sniper bullet, or aerial bombardment. Tonight he wrote to me: "I am drowning in fear and hunger, unable to think even about my own safety and life. All my thoughts are now focused on Canada and the hope of escape from this hell. Yes, everyone is fleeing the bombing and destruction, but where can we escape? Everywhere here is filled with bombing and hunger. There is no shelter, no safety, no place for a human being to live. The entirety of Gaza has become an incubator of death, and every corner threatens life.”
In 2021 and 2022, we worked to bring all of Mamdouh’s family to Canada, but he was forced by border restrictions to stay behind. Over 52 months after his family submitted his permanent residence application, he remains stranded in the killing zone.
His family are told that his case is discussed at the highest levels of the Canadian government yet still there is no action to assist him. We don’t need any more discussion. With one email or phone call, any of the ministers responsible could have Mamdouh safely across the border and home to his family.
Canada has the capacity to evacuate Mamdouh tonight if it chooses to do so, as it has regularly used the Kerem Shalom crossing to evacuate modest numbers of visa applicants (a shameful 2% of 5,000 applicants, but clearly, Canada is not powerless or in the hands of other decisionmakers.)
Below is a sample letter for you to send to your MP and the ministers responsible for this life-saving decision. Also included is a guide to calling the offices of those ministers.
In addition to writing letters and making calls, you can join the Chain Fast for Palestinian Family Reunification (https://rrrncanada.blogspot.com/2025/08/chain-fast-for-palestinian-family.html and, if you have some extra cash to donate, send an etransfer to us at tasc@web.ca for what will inevitably be significant transportation and food costs to help Mamdouh move south from the coming onslaught in Gaza City.
In his latest message from Gaza City, where Israeli bombardment is non-stop, deafening terror, Mamdouh writes: "The sounds of explosions tear me apart. I swear to you, I cannot even move. My body is paralyzed with terror, as if fear has frozen my heart and soul together. I feel as if every passing moment steals the last remnants of hope from me, and that my life is hanging on the brink of death. Please, please expedite my case. Do anything to save me before it's too late, because I simply cannot bear it any longer. Every minute here is an agony unbearable for the human heart, and every breath becomes heavier than before, as if death draws me closer and closer with every second.”
Please share this appeal and take life-saving action
Matthew Behrens
Canadian Palestinian Family Reunification Project
(Rural Refugee Rights Network)
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SAMPLE LETTER
(feel free to personalize the letter and subject line)
SUBJECT: Immediately Evacuate Mamdouh Abusbitan from Gaza to Join his Family in Canada
To: gary.anand@parl.gc.ca, lenametlege.diab@parl.gc.ca, Anita.Anand@parl.gc.ca
CC: Mark.carney@parl.gc.ca, David.angell@pco-bcp.gc.ca, Nisara.Jiwani@pco-bcp.gc.ca, anita.anand@international.gc.ca, ps.ministerofpublicsafety-ministredelasecuritepublique.sp@canada.ca, tasc@web.ca, IRCC.Minister-Ministre.IRCC@cic.gc.ca, Minister@cic.gc.ca, Scott.Harris@cic.gc.ca, Harpreet.Kochhar@cic.gc.ca, pm@pm.gc.ca, Tricia.Geddes@ps-sp.gc.ca, minister@ps-sp.gc.ca, Daniel.Mills@ps-sp.gc.ca, Salma.Zahid@parl.gc.ca, Jenna.Sudds@parl.gc.ca, Iqra.Khalid@parl.gc.ca, nathaniel.erskine-smith@parl.gc.ca
Dear Ms Anand, Ms. Diab and Mr. Anandarangasee,
I am writing you about the urgent case of Mamdouh Abusbitan, a young man starving to death, his body and soul withering away as he waits for Canadian assistance to exit Gaza and join his family in Ontario. Although Canada placed Mamdouh on the Gaza evacuation list as of November 19, 2023, Canada failed to assist in his evacuation over the following six months before the Rafah crossing was closed.
Although Canada is able to evacuate people through the Kerem Shalom crossing – 11 were brought to Canada the final weekend of July – they have yet to assist Mamdouh. In order to save his life, Canada must urgently finalize his permanent residency application (waiting over 52 months) or, alternatively, issue a temporary resident permit and evacuate him to save him from famine and the daily Israeli bombardments and threats of instant death simply for seeking food.
He writes to the Canadian government and people, “This is my cry from Gaza, from the dark, deadly, and starving corner of the world. Mamdouh is pleading with you all…hear his voice before it is silenced forever.”
Canada must take immediate action to ensure Mamdouh has the necessary status (as an approved permanent resident or via a Temporary Residence Permit) to be evacuated from the killing zone of what the International Court of Justice called in January 2024 a plausible case of genocide. For Mamdouh, it’s been almost two years of enduring a hell on earth beyond anyone’s imagination. For his family in Canada, wondering moment to moment whether they will ever see him again, it is living a 24/7 nightmare. Canada must do better.
In addition, Canada must respond to the urgent, dire situation of all visa applicants:
Immediately open a humanitarian corridor to urgently evacuate all program applicants to prevent further death and physical and psychological harm to those who, by all rights, should have been in Canada with their families long ago. Other countries have evacuated the loved ones of their nationals. Why not Canada? (In the first year of the Ukraine program, Canada processed 1,400 applications a day and welcomed 130,000. In the Gaza program, they have only done 2 applications per day, and hundreds have been killed waiting for approval as fewer than 900 have made it here. During that same time period, Canada approved over 8,000 visa for Israeli citizens.)
Immediately approve visas for the almost 1,000 Palestinian genocide survivors stranded in Egypt after they managed to escape without Canadian government help, many of whom have been waiting over 18 months without access to basic needs (schooling, income, health care) or legal status.
Follow Canada’s own program guidelines, which do not require fingerprints and photographs for exit from Gaza, and stop separating families at the evacuation point
Stop treating this program as an unjustified investigation rooted in anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia, and prioritize life-saving evacuation
So many lives like Mamdouh’s are on the line., You made a commitment to their safety. You must deliver on that commitment before it is too late.
I close with Mamdouh’s direct plea to you: “Please, please expedite my case. Do anything to save me before it's too late, because I simply cannot bear it any longer. Every minute here is an agony unbearable for the human heart, and every breath becomes heavier than before, as if death draws me closer and closer with every second.”
Your Name
Town, Postal Code
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Sample Call
Minister of Immigration Lena Metlege Diab: 613-996-3085
Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand: 613-995-4014
Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree: 613-992-1351
Please call using this text as a guideline and leave a message if you do not speak directly with a person. PLEASE be polite, as any negative interactions will harm the families. If they say this is the wrong office, politely tell them this IS the office where feedback needs to be heard and ask them to pass it on.
Hi, my name is XXX and I’m calling from XXX. I am incredibly upset about the horrors being inflicted on the Palestinian people and the failure of Canada to help people from Gaza escape and join their loves ones here. I am calling on you to immediately evacuate Mamdouh Abusbitan, who is starving to death, to join his family in Canada. You also need to open an evacuation corridor for all remaining visa applicants in Gaza and immediately approve all remaining applications for those stranded in Egypt. Too many people have been killed waiting for their Canadian visas to be processed. This is an emergency program and needs to be operated on an urgent, emergency basis. Thank you.