Montreal, Canada – Palestinian households are suing the Canadian authorities over delays in the issuance of visas meant to permit them to flee Israel’s lethal warfare in Gaza and obtain non permanent safety in Canada.
Filed within the Federal Court docket of Canada this month, on behalf of 53 Palestinians within the Gaza Strip with members of the family in Canada, the lawsuit alleges that the nation’s particular visa programme has been affected by inefficiencies.
Hana Marku, a Toronto lawyer representing the households, mentioned all of her purchasers submitted a kind expressing curiosity within the visas throughout the first month of the scheme’s launch in January 2024.
Nonetheless, none have acquired the distinctive reference codes wanted to maneuver to the following stage of the method, which is the submission of their family’ Canadian visa functions.
The extended delay has left their Gaza-based family open to “life-threatening and inhumane situations” within the Palestinian territory, the place Israel has bombarded cities, neighbourhoods and refugee camps for 15 months, the lawsuit states.
“There’s no rhyme or purpose to how the codes are being rolled out, and the truth that there’s no transparency right here is — it’s emotional torture, frankly,” Marku informed Al Jazeera.
“It’s emotional torture for the Canadian family members who put in a monetary endeavor within the perception that this might create the possibility of getting their family members out of Gaza.”
Canada launched the particular Gaza visa programme on January 9, 2024, just a few months into Israel’s assaults on the coastal Palestinian enclave.
The scheme allowed Canadian residents and everlasting residents to use to deliver prolonged members of the family from Gaza to the nation amid the war. If authorized, profitable candidates would obtain non permanent residency for as much as three years.
However from the beginning, households and immigration legal professionals mentioned the method was complicated and included invasive questions that went past what is often required, together with inquiries about any scars or accidents that required medical consideration.
In addition they mentioned Canada didn’t clarify why some Palestinian households acquired codes to submit their functions whereas others didn’t.
A spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) — the federal immigration division — informed Al Jazeera that it was reviewing a “massive quantity” of first-stage submissions and that processing instances differ in keeping with every case.
As of January 28, the federal government had accepted 4,873 Gaza visa functions into processing, the division mentioned.
By that very same date, 1,093 individuals who exited Gaza with none assist from the Canadian authorities had been authorized to return to Canada. Of that, 645 individuals have arrived within the nation.
The programme will shut as soon as 5,000 functions have reached the processing stage or upon a ultimate cutoff date of April 22.
“Motion out of Gaza stays extraordinarily difficult resulting from components outdoors of Canada’s control. This continues to be the first difficulty in how shortly we are able to course of functions from Gazans,” the IRCC spokesperson mentioned.
However Marku, the Toronto lawyer, mentioned her purchasers are usually not asking for help in leaving Gaza or for a constructive determination on their family’ visa requests; they only need the possibility to be allowed to submit the functions.
“They’ll’t proceed to the following step on this course of — they will’t even fill out the appliance varieties — with out being given distinctive reference codes,” she mentioned.
“We’re simply asking for an order from the Federal Court docket to compel the federal authorities to present these individuals distinctive reference codes. That is what we’ve needed to litigate.”
Requested in regards to the lawsuit, IRCC informed Al Jazeera that the federal government couldn’t touch upon particular circumstances resulting from privateness considerations.
One of many Canada-based members of the family concerned within the lawsuit, who spoke to Al Jazeera on situation of anonymity resulting from a worry of retribution, mentioned the visa scheme seems to have been “designed to fail and to not evacuate individuals” from Gaza.
“They’re not severe in regards to the course of,” the particular person mentioned of the Canadian authorities. “They don’t have a structured system. It’s only a unhealthy system. It’s a must to determine issues by yourself, it doesn’t make any sense.”
The family they had been hoping to deliver to Canada stay in Gaza, which has been decimated.
A complete of 48,319 Palestinians have been confirmed lifeless, although the Authorities Media Workplace in Gaza has mentioned the entire could also be as excessive as 61,709, given the our bodies but to be discovered underneath the rubble.
A shaky ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, carried out final month, has offered a quick reprieve from widespread bombings, however the enclave is in ruins, and Palestinians face a dire humanitarian disaster, with shortages of meals and different primary provides.
The relative in Canada mentioned watching the destruction from afar whereas struggling to entry the Canadian visas has taken a psychological toll. “I by no means … in my whole life [had] to expertise such a factor, the strain like this,” they added.
In the meantime, Marku mentioned the legal professionals are “working towards the clock” to attempt to obtain the appliance codes earlier than the programme closes in April.
The Canadian authorities has 30 days from when the lawsuit was filed on February 6 to submit its response, and Marku mentioned her crew is hoping the Federal Court docket will then comply with their arguments on an expedited foundation.
“Leaving individuals in limbo, I believe, is nearly worse than flat-out refusing them,” Marku informed Al Jazeera. “On this state of affairs, it’s simply merciless to do that to individuals.”
