(Jihan and her family, pictured, the last time they saw one another, May, 2019)
Following a month-long campaign to pressure the Canadian government to end the painful separation from her three war-traumatized children and husband in Gaza, Jihan Qunoo has won temporary resident permits for her loved ones to join her in Ottawa during the processing of their permanent residence applications.
“There have been so many tears and sleepless nights over the last two years, and then with the war, it felt like this dream of being reunited would never come true,” a relieved Qunoo said this morning, 24 hours after she and a group of supporters delivered a petition and personal letters to the Prime Minister's office and Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino. “I cannot believe that I will soon be able to hug and play with my family and that they will never have to fear being in a war zone ever again.”
Qunoo went public during the bombardment of Gaza, sharing shocking images of her kids running and screaming as the bombs fell, including next door, where 12 people were killed. “The kids have been terrified. The fear of losing them forever or never having to hold them, hug them, hear their laughter or experience sibling bickering created a sense of terror and extreme insecurity in me. I am from Gaza, I have lived through tough times, and this constant fear of not knowing what the future will hold is not new to me, but nothing compares to the terror that I have felt for not seeing my daughters again.”
Qunoo says her children, who have suffered from depression and anxiety as a result of the lengthy separation and the recent attacks, are overjoyed at the prospect that they will see each other soon.
Qunoo also shares her special thanks for the almost 25,000 people who signed a petition in her support, her lawyer, Jacqueline Bonisteel, Matthew Behrens of the Rural Refugee Rights Network and members and friends in the Sisters Trust Canada.
“While we rejoice today with this news, and really look forward to welcoming Jihan’s family to Ottawa, we also hope this signals a willingness on the part of the Government of Canada to similarly reunite at least a dozen other Gaza refugees already living in Canada who have similarly been separated for years from their spouses and children,” Behrens says. “We look forward to the possibility of coming up with a creative solution for them as well so they do not have to endure up to another, on average, 39 months of painful separation from their children, their wives and husbands.”
For more information, contact the Rural Refugee Rights Network at tasc@web.ca
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