From September 1 to September 20, please pick a day to fast (according to your own tradition of fasting) to demand the immediate evacuation from Gaza of all remaining Palestinian applicants for Canadian visas and the finalization of all applications for the hundreds of Palestinian genocide survivors still stranded in Egypt.
During your fast day, we ask you to:
• Make a selfie with a message (such as Fasting for Palestinian Family Reunification or “Fasting for Urgent Gaza Evacuation”) that you can share with us and on your social media;
• Write a letter and make a call to your MP and the appropriate government officials (samples below) demanding immediate evacuation of all remaining visa applicants from Gaza;
• Share on social media the story of one of the families hugely impacted by the negative impacts of this program (we will pair you with a family and provide pictures and text to share). We can also directly connect you with that particular family to stay in touch with them afterwards and continue advocating for their right to be free of the genocide and joined with their loved ones in Canada.
To pick a date to fast, please email a preferred date, your name and town/city to be shared on our website, to the Canadian Palestinian Family Reunification Project of the Rural Refugee Rights Network at tasc@web.ca
BACKGROUND
Each day of the chain fast will represent one of the 20 months that Canada’s None is Too Many Gaza temporary residence visa (TRV) program has been in effect, 20 months of deliberate institutional inaction and lethal obstacle creation, with hundreds of lives lost waiting on Canadian visas. The final week of the chain fast coincides with the return of MPs to Parliament.
Canada does have the capacity to evacuate visa applicants from Gaza. But it has only directly assisted in the evacuation of fewer than 2% of the 5,000 applicants, and in late July evacuated 11 Canadian citizens through the Kerem Shalom crossing. We engage in this fast to highlight the urgent need to evacuate the remaining 98% of applicants.
The punishingly slow pace of visa processing for Gazans – a paltry average of 2 applications completed per day, with a lethal waiting time for some of over a year – stands in stark contrast to the Canada–Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program. During CUAET’s first year, Canada welcomed 129,000 Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion and approved over half a million visas (an average of 1,400 applications per day), usually within a two-week turnaround. Canada waived security screening for those aged up to 17 and over 61, and dropped a required medical exam despite the Ukrainian population’s much higher risk of carrying tuberculosis, which Ottawa conceded “posed potential health risks to Canada.”
Similarly, Canada welcomed over 8,000 Israeli visa holders during 2024. Palestinian Canadians and refugee advocates point to such figures as clear proof of a painful, discriminatory double standard that fails to adequately respond to what Canadian officials acknowledge are “catastrophic conditions” in Gaza.
The Gaza TRV program eerily echoes one of the most shameful periods of Canadian history, the None is Too Many policies designed to keep Jews fleeing genocide out of Canada during the 1930s and 1940s. Almost 79 years after Canada turned away a boat packed with Jewish refugees (the St. Louis), then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an apology, noting 254 St. Louis passengers were murdered upon their forced return to Europe, and declaring: “By issuing this apology, it is my sincere hope that we can shine a light on this painful chapter of our history and ensure that its lessons are never forgotten.”
Sadly, different lessons were learned by different people. For those in the government who historically and to this day wrongfully treat certain groups of people with suspicion, the lesson is that they can get away with racist exclusion as long as there is no public outrage. Hence, we have seen Public Safety Canada agencies like CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency) and CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) treat every last Palestinian from Gaza as a potential risk instead of viewing them through the humanitarian lens of families escaping the worst horrors imaginable. That is why actions like the Chain Fast are so important: another reminder of the many people across this land who stand in solidarity with and recognize the humanity of these Palestinian families.
Sample Letters and Calls
Feel free to personalize this letter as well as your subject line)
(Add in the name and address of your MP)
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
Subject: I am Fasting for Palestinian Family Reunification: Evacuate all Visa applicants NOW!
Dear Ms Anand, Ms. Diab and Mr. Anandarangasee,
I am fasting today to call on Canada to immediately open a humanitarian corridor to urgently evacuate all Gaza temporary resident visa program applicants. This is urgently required 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 people. In the Gaza program, your government has only done on average 2 applications per day, and hundreds have been killed waiting for approval, as fewer than 900 have made it here, almost all of them because they escaped on their own before May 2024. During that same time period, Canada approved over 8,000 visa for Israeli citizens.
Canada has the capacity to evacuate people, but keeps coming up with obstacles that violates its own program guidelines. In the latest such lethal obstacle, I am shocked to see that even though the Gaza program website acknowledges that those leaving Gaza can do their fingerprints and photos (biometrics) after they leave Gaza, you are now telling families they can only leave if they have completed biometrics. This is an impossible Catch-22, which has forcibly separated families at the evacuation point and condemned thousands to starvation and the daily risk of being vaporized by drone strikes and carpet bombing.
On July 29, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand celebrated the evacuation of 11 Canadian children and their family from Gaza. During 2025, you have also evacuated approximately 2% of 5,000 program applicants. While this is a shockingly low number in light of what you’ve witnessed since the International Court of Justice finding of a plausible case of genocide in January 2024, it is evidence that you clearly do not have the political will to save Palestinian lives.
Canada has a close relationship with Israel, Egypt and Jordan. There is absolutely no reason why you cannot make immediate arrangements to evacuate the approximately 3,500 visa program applicants who remain at lethal risk to their lives in Gaza. In addition, you must immediately finalize all applications for those who have been stranded in Egypt for upwards of 19 months.
An earlier Liberal government apologized for turning away Jews fleeing a genocide on the St. Louis ship in 1939, declaring that the lessons of such an appalling chapter in our history should never be repeated. Yet in 2025, you are treating Palestinians fleeing a genocide in the exact shameful manner.
Never again means Never Again for Everyone.
Please take immediate action to save the lives of Canadian Palestinians’ loved ones. Institute an emergency evacuation corridor now and finish visa processing in Canada.
NAME
Town, Postal Code
+++++++++++++++++++
CALL INSTRUCTIONS:
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 fasting today because like many people 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 open an evacuation corridor for all remaining visa applicants in Gaza and immediate approval of 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.
+++++++++++++++
List of those Fasting
Monday, September 1: Eric Unger, Winnipeg, MB; Kim Leblanc, Toronto, ON
Tuesday, September 2: Sharen Craig, Alfred and Plantagenet, ON; JoAnne Jarvis, Victoria, BC; Diane Dick, Georgian Bluffs, ON
Wednesday, September 3: Janet Cleveland, Montreal, QC
Thursday, September 4: Genevieve Gallant, Perth, ON
Friday, September 5: Tony Whelan, Tiny, ON; S. Moffat, Toronto, ON
Saturday, September 6: Tahani, along with Joudi, Lujain, Mohammad, Sojud (four children) fasting for their spouse/father, Ahmed, still in Gaza; Brydon Gombay, Toronto, ON
Sunday, September 7: Bonita Ford, Perth, ON; George Golightly, Vegreville, AB; Jozef Konyari, Toronto, ON; Antoinette Fortier, Vegreville, AB
Monday, September 8: Madalene Arias, East York, ON; Eric Unger, Winnipeg, MB; Christina Mills, Waterloo, ON; Dr. Nahid Azaz, Ottawa, ON
Tuesday, September 9: Bill Heffernan, Toronto, ON
Wednesday, September 10: Matthew Behrens, Ottawa, ON; Brenda Holtkamp, Brampton, ON; Myriam Vargas de Luna, Montreal, QC; Tracy Burns, Quebec City, QC
Thursday, September 11: Safi El-Solh, Ottawa, ON; Marcia Perryman, Peterborough, ON; Geri Sadoway, Toronto, ON
Friday, September 12: Audrey Chin, Toronto, ON
Saturday, September 13: Louisa Krátká, Guelph, ON; Marie Riviere, Ottawa, ON
Sunday, September 14: Robin George, Guelph, ON; Erin Crecelius, Whitney, ON
Monday, September 15: Lyn Adamson, Toronto, ON; Eric Unger, Winnipeg, MB; Kim Leblanc, Toronto, ON; Charlotte Sheasby-Coleman, Toronto, ON; Dr. Nahid Azaz, Ottawa, ON; Leslie Solomonian, Toronto, ON; David Knoppert, London, ON; Neil Marchuk, Niigata, Japan (Canadian citizen)
Tuesday, September 16: Jessica Leroux, Ottawa, ON; Karl Henke, Ottawa, ON
Wednesday, September 17: Mary Cowper-Smith, Charlottetown, PEI; Leslie Solomonian, Toronto, ON
Thursday, September 18: Mohammed Elbadri, Ottawa, ON
Friday, September 19: Deb Melady and Jack Wilcox, Nepean, ON; Carole Yerochewski, Montreal, QC; Leslie Solomonian, Toronto, ON
Saturday, September 20: Kim Leblanc, Toronto, ON
