The Syrian Refugees That Time – and Canada – Forgot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Syrian boy is afraid to turn 18, because that’s when the murderous Assad regime will come to claim him for its blood-stained military. His refusal to be forcibly conscripted into an atrocities-tainted army will mark him for jail, torture or death. With most of his family in Canada –including a father who is awaiting adjudication of his own refugee claim – he needs an urgent Temporary Resident Permit to escape a regime condemned by Canada for its “brutal and shocking attacks on its own people.” 

By Matthew Behrens

            The lethal crisis of closed borders and xenophobic immigration policies made an increasingly rare media appearance last week with the drowning deaths of 27 desperate refugees attempting to cross the English Channel. Since 2014, at least 166 asylum seekers have lost their lives making that perilous journey; almost 23,000 have been killed or reported missing crossing the Mediterranean during the same time period.

            The inhumane lengths to which many nations will go to prevent migration was documented this week in The New Yorker, which reported that the European Union “has created a shadow immigration system that captures [migrants] before they reach its shores, and sends them to brutal Libyan detention centers run by militias…. It has equipped and trained the Libyan Coast Guard, a quasi-military organization linked to militias in the country, to patrol the Mediterranean, sabotaging humanitarian rescue operations and capturing migrants. The migrants are then detained indefinitely in a network of profit-making prisons run by the militias. In September of this year, around six thousand migrants were being held.. International aid agencies have documented an array of abuses: detainees tortured with electric shocks, children raped by guards, families extorted for ransom, men and women sold into forced labor.”

            Meanwhile, the world’s single largest refugee population has gone from being a headline story to yesterday’s news, a magical transformation that has disappeared almost 14 million forcibly displaced Syrians. The United Nations reports that this population is almost evenly divided between those who sought asylum abroad and the millions of internally displaced people who continue to face mass hunger, homelessness, and continued political repression.

            Conditions for the millions who were able to get out of Syria – the majority of them in Turkey – remain poor. In Lebanon, 90% of Syrian refugees live in extreme poverty, and with no official refugee camps, most are scattered throughout the country, crammed into small, over-crowded lodgings that leave them vulnerable to Covid.

The situation inside Syria remains dire. Human Rights Watch reports a widespread “inability to procure food, essential drugs, and other basic necessities. As a result, more than 9.3 million Syrians have become food insecure and over 80 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line.” The group added that on top of these deteriorating conditions, “human rights abuses in government-held territory continued unabated. Authorities brutally suppressed every sign of re-emerging dissent, including through arbitrary arrests and torture.”

 

Mass Disappearances

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), at least 100,000 Syrians remain forcibly disappeared. The network also estimates that nearly 15,000 have died due to torture since March 2011, the majority at the hands of Syrian government forces.

            It’s a human rights catastrophe that has been mislabeled a “refugee crisis,” as if those escaping persecution and desperate conditions are the root problem. In fact, the crisis results from interconnected decisions of wealthy nations like Canada. On the one hand, governmental and corporate policies give rise to a “Canada Brand” of overseas violence, repression, and displacement. On the other, Canadian policies of interdiction abroad (stationing officers in scores of countries to prevent refugees from escaping and getting here) and deadly agreements like Safe Third Country (which allows for forced return of asylum seekers from the Canadian border to the US on the outrageous claim that it is a safe country for refugees) make it impossible for far too many to find safety.

            It is the anti-refugee sentiment within Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that leads directly to findings by CBC that Canada is nowhere near hitting its refugee intake goals for 2021. One cannot blame covid here; it is a result of systems that have been created and sustained for decades in which Canada favours business class immigrants over torture survivors and long-separated loved ones.  Indeed, IRCC’s own online processing times calculator reveals an average 6-month waiting period for economic immigration applicants, whereas a privately sponsored refugee desperate to get out of Uganda faces an average delay of 34 months.

            While refugees were briefly mentioned during the 2021 pandemic election, it was largely in response to the capture of Kabul by the Taliban and Canada’s long-term, decade-long failure to provide safety for interpreters, fixers, drivers, and others who assisted the Canadian military during its occupation of Afghanistan. It was a far-cry from 2015, when the “sunny ways” Liberals took advantage of a mean-spirited Harper regime and a photo that went around the globe.

 

6 Years After Operation Syrian Refugees

            Indeed, it’s been six years since the world was transfixed by the heart-rending image of lifeless, 3-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi washed up on a beach. In many ways, it became a touchstone issue for the 2015 federal election, with the Trudeau Liberals promising to welcome tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. Operation Syrian Refugees helped resettle 25,000 asylum seekers in the space of 100 days, and while the bulk of this work was undertaken by hard-working community members and civil society organizations, it did represent a perfect example of how humanitarian action can be enacted when the political will is there to see it through.

            Last December, Justin Trudeau looked back on that initiative by recalling how “we opened our arms and our hearts to people and families fleeing conflict, insecurity, and persecution.” Trudeau called on Canada and its international partners to “find ways to continue to protect refugees fleeing war or violence.”

            While Trudeau’s sentiment is a welcome one, it needs to find life in creative solutions to overcoming the barriers faced by those fleeing such war and violence.

One such person who desperately needs to join his family in Canada is 17-year old Yazan Al-Ali. This Syrian boy is afraid to turn 18, because that’s when the murderous Assad regime will come to claim him for its blood-stained military. His refusal to be forcibly conscripted into an atrocities-tainted army will mark him for jail, torture or death. With most of his family in Canada –including a father who is awaiting adjudication of his own refugee claim – he needs an urgent Temporary Resident Permit to escape a regime condemned by Canada for its “brutal and shocking attacks on its own people.” 

Yazan is all alone right now, hiding in Syria, as his step-mother passed away in October, 2021. His older brothers all escaped and sought asylum because they too refused to be part of the brutal Assad military. Syrian military intelligence are searching for Yazan’s father, both because he helped his other sons escape the military and because he has claimed refugee status in Canada, an act viewed by the Syrian regime as treasonous.

As a result, Yazan’s family name is red-flagged by the regime, and there is great risk of 17-year-old Yazan being targeted as a means of punishing those who have left. As a young man on his own, Yazan is also at much greater risk of sexual violence by Syrian government forces. (In March 2018, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (the Syria COI) published a report with detailed evidence on sexual violence against men and boys in Syria.)

 

Lives Like Death

Yazan’s step-siblings and extended family live a very successful life in Canada. They have the resources to welcome, support and resettle Yazan when he receives the required permission to enter Canada. But Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Minister Sean Fraser must act quickly, as Yazan turns 18 in less than six weeks.

Despite the recent window-dressing elections of Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad, conditions have not improved whatsoever for the majority of the population. In October 2021 Human Rights Watch published a stomach-turning report, Our Lives are Like Death, which detailed the horrific mistreatment of refugees who voluntarily returned to Syria from Lebanon and Jordan.  The report notes that conditions in host countries have become so severe that growing numbers are willing to try a return to Syria, despite their fears of what awaits them. Human Rights Watch found “that returnees face many of the same violations that caused their flight from Syria. These include persecution and abuses, such as arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention, torture, extra-judicial killings, kidnappings, and widespread bribery and extortion, at the hands of the Syrian security agencies and government-affiliated militias.”

On December 10 (which is also International Human Rights Day), Trudeau will no doubt issue a self-congratulatory message marking the 6^th anniversary of Operation Syrian Refugees. His government can actually provide some meaning to those fine words by committing to opening the door to far more refugees from Syria and other countries as well. A good start on the path would be granting Yazan Al-Ali a temporary resident permit to allow him to come to Canada for his own protection.

(The story appears on rabble.ca the week of November 29, 2021)

Family Reunification Backlog Not on Election Radar

Amitis Shojaei  is a 13-year-old girl who has been separated from her Calgary mother for 26 months. She fears that the current backlog could mean another 39 months of waiting.
 

By Matthew Behrens

When she was 5 years old, Amitis Shojaei dictated a story to her mother, Fatemah. A local newspaper published this tale illustrating how a mother's love saved her daughter's life: when the devil wounded the girl with a poisoned arrow of hatred, her mother hugged her and cried, and the mother's tears brought the girl to life. 

Amitis, who lives in Iran, is now a 13-year-old with an extraordinary talent for stand-up comedy. She excels at theatre and singing, with a knack for making short videos. But her creative drive has been subsumed in a cloud of depression because she has been separated from her Calgary mother for over 26 months. It could be another 39 months before her permanent residence (PR) application to come to Canada is processed.

The 26-month break in an incredibly strong mother-daughter bond has been devastating. Fatemeh, who for many understandable reasons is not sharing publicly why she had to come to Canada, suffers from severe depression due to the separation, as does Amitis, who also experiences lack of sleep, disinterest in play, and poor academic results. A November, 2019 psychiatric assessment that has been shared with Canadian officials indicates this young girl suffers greatly from anxiety and depression because of the separation from her mother, and while treatment is recommended, “it is highly recommended to change the conditions and make it possible for her to enjoy physical and emotional presence of her mother.” 

In addition to the pain of being separated from her mother and experiencing daily what it means to be a second class citizen as a girl in Iran, the conditions in Amitis’ community (where she survives with her aunt) are severe. They include a lack of electricity (and no air conditioning when daytime temperatures reach 50 degrees Celsius), food and medicine shortages, and strict water rationing. Amitis is also at greater risk of contracting Covid-19, given the regime’s decision not to impose strict public health measures (arguing that the economy must remain open to counteract the devastating impact of ongoing economic sanctions). 

Amitis currently has an application in to the Canadian government for a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP), which upon approval would allow her to be reunited with her mother while her Permanent Residence application is processed. But getting that approval could prove a long and difficult journey, a challenge shared by millions of immigrants and refugees in Canada who suffer such long-term separation because of Ottawa’s failure to provide the necessary resources to address a staggering backlog of applications.

 

Political Considerations Determine Eligibility

Perhaps because many of these separated families cannot vote, it’s an issue rarely addressed on the federal campaign trail. According to figures obtained by the Toronto Star, as of early July, there were 375,137 permanent residence applications awaiting processing, along with 702,660 temporary residence hopefuls. Behind each of these million-plus applications is a story filled with the pain and trauma of separation experienced by Amitis and Fatemah. But based on their platforms, none of the major political parties appears prepared to seriously address what is in many ways a crisis induced by bureaucratic complacency and, in no small part, racism.

What harm, family reunification advocates rightfully ask, would there be in bringing over separated family members as soon as mothers or fathers in Canada have refugee status?  Why do we punish people who have been accepted for asylum – and therefore clearly cannot go back to the country from which they fled – with endless reunification delays that exacerbate the stress, fear, and anxiety already suffered by individuals who have survived persecution, torture, difficult journeys, and getting established in a nation that constantly throws barriers in their way?

Part of the answer is purely political. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Marco Mendicino, has significant discretion to issue TRPs to immediately reunite many of these families. But it’s a discretion he tends to use only after a family has gone through the trauma of sharing their story publicly, pushing petitions, hoisting picket signs, and engaging in incessant lobbying. Indeed, it appears that IRCC exercises its own cynical calculus in deciding whether to show humanitarian compassion, weighing the effects of negative publicity and public outrage in coming to a conclusion about approving some of these permits.

This was clear in the case of Ottawa Palestinian refugee Jihan Qunoo, who fled Gaza in 2019 and, desperate to see her three daughters after two years of separation, applied last February for visitor visas so they could spend the summer with her. They were turned down. Qunoo then took her family reunification plea to the airwaves during the May bombing of Gaza, sharing harrowing images of her girls screaming from the ear-shattering explosions and concussive effects of a direct hit on the building next door to their apartment, killing twelve neighbours.

With the assistance of the Rural Refugee Rights Network, which organized a national campaign, a petition with over 25,000 signatures, and days’ worth of lobbying and public demonstrations, Qunoo won early admission temporary resident permits (TRPs) to bring her husband and children to safety in Canada. Those permits were approved 13 days after she submitted her application. There was only one difference between the rejection in February and the happy reunion in June: public exposure and pressure.

While Qunoo’s story is a happy one – her girls started school in Ottawa last week and they can now walk home free from the worry that drones might fire missiles at them – her case is emblematic of a critical systemic problem. Indeed, it is only a massive effort that tends to produce such an individual success. While the major federal parties recognize the problem, they are at best vague on solutions and, at worst, seeing a privatization opportunity to exploit incredibly vulnerable people.

 

 

 

Liberals Favour Business Class

            Employing their favourite phrase, the Liberals claim they have “worked hard” on family reunification but blame the backlog on Stephen Harper, who left office in 2015. They promise to reduce processing time to 1 year or less (still too long, and a goal they will inevitably fail to achieve) and to also implement a program (for which no details are provided) that would provide visas to allow spouses and children to reunite while awaiting processing.  

              Trudeau’s promise to bring up to 40,000 Afghans to Canada sounds hopeful (and feels akin to his promise to bring 35,000 Syrian refugees in 2015), but advocates are furious that there has yet to be any clarity about how those desperate to escape the Taliban can get here. Calls to the special Afghanistan hotline produce a wide range of advice for asylum seekers, but no practical results. Those fleeing can see online which program they are eligible for, but there remain no details on how they can apply.

            Ultimately, the Liberals promise to continue a long-standing trend of privileging business-class immigrants over family reunification. Refugee rights lawyer and advocate Sharry Aiken points out that “about 40 per cent of the overall immigration intake came from the family class in the early 1990s. Since 2000, they've been making up just over 20 per cent because the government has put more emphasis on economic-class immigrants.”

            That is unlikely to change under a re-elected Liberal government. Whereas they dangle a 12-month waiting time for families desperate to hug loved ones, you can get here in 2 weeks under the Global Talent Stream, where a $1,000 application fee and a job offer with an $80,000 annual base salary will make you a Canadian resident in no time. For many refugees, however, running from bombs and trying to escape torture chambers leaves little time to burnish their high-tech job resumes.

            While Trudeau praises his immigration program for human rights defenders, it is largely symbolic – only 250 individuals and their families per year – and is infinitesimal compared with the 40,000 people who came to Canada in the first two years of the Global Talent Stream.

 

Tories’ Two-Tier System

In naming the many problems that plague the Canadian immigration system, the Conservative platform tries to outflank Justin Trudeau with faux compassion. They correctly claim, “it is plain wrong to stoke anxieties in vulnerable communities, a cynical art that the Trudeau Liberals have perfected,” yet they do exactly that by proposing a two-tier, trickle-down system in which the wealthy can pay for expedited processing of their applications. This sick monetization of immigration processing is based on the idea that the fast-track fees will help hire additional workers “at no additional cost to the taxpayer” with the trickle-down promise that this will help the vast majority who don’t have the money to bribe the system. This is also coded language for the kinds of public service cutbacks that the Public Service Alliance of Canada predicts under an O’Toole government. Those who survived the Reagan/Thatcher era know all too well that trickle-down approaches never succeed.

            Beneath the avuncular  image projected by O’Toole, the Tories revert to typically racist dog-whistle blame games, claiming the system suffers not from the institutional racism and complacency that are at the root of the problems, but rather so-called “bogus” refugees (who are in fact refugees who, because of the bias and barriers in the system, find themselves rejected). They also point to an alleged failure to ramp up deportation orders (despite the Liberals having set a cruel annual quota for deportations, regardless of the painful and often grave outcomes they produce). The Tories also propose moving a lot of immigration processes online, which will be a death knell for many cases, given how difficult it is to access the IRCC portals at the best of times. For individuals who do not speak English or French and do not have reliable internet, this would cut out some of the most vulnerable of applicants. While they pledge to allow someone to correct an application rather than have the whole package rejected (as often occurs),  the Conservatives’ nod to family reunification is based on coded language for private child care, prioritizing those family members whose primary role will be to provide unpaid care for kids in the home (and not in publicly-subsidized daycare).

            There is also a thinly veiled “values test” for permanent residence, which is dangled in front of students and temporary workers “so long as they are prepared to work hard, contribute to the growth and productivity of Canada, and strengthen our democracy.” The Tories would also attempt to eliminate government-assisted refugees and privatize the whole process, pushing it on to community groups and churches, all the while they hope to play the Trump card of joint patrols along the U.S. border.

 

 

 

NDP and Green’s Aspirations

            The NDP’s platform on family reunification is incredibly vague, promising only to “take on the backlog” and “fix the system,” but not saying how. It also fails to expand beyond generalities, and is silent on the lethal Safe Third Country Agreement, under which Canada sends refugee claimants back to the US despite the risk of detention and deportation. Such sloppiness for an alternative party is problematic, especially since it fails to reference a private members bill by its own tireless IRCC critic, Jenny Kwan, which would stipulate that “a foreign national who is the subject of a family sponsorship application may remain in Canada as a temporary resident until a final determination in respect of the application is made.” Nor does the NDP reference the widely-shared proposal by the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) to establish a standard of 6 months or less to reunite separated children with a parent in Canada (a benchmark that is still too long, and which would likely be abused by bureaucracies that, given an inch, will always take a mile).

            While the Greens are unlikely to have much influence on the future shaping of these issues, their platform at least stands out for raising issues that no other party includes in their platforms. For example, they are the only party to recognize and name “systemic racism and discrimination in Immigration and Refugee services” and are also alone in calling for the termination of the lethal Safe Third Country Agreement. The Greens discuss pathways to permanent residence for temporary foreign workers, increased support for parent and grandparent sponsorship, and lowering the “barriers for convention refugees to reunite with their children and bring them to Canada by making the process more accessible.” They are also the only party to call for discussions on the definition of ‘environmental refugees’ and the need for Canada to include “an appropriate share of the world’s environmental refugees into Canada.”

            But while sounding a far sight better than the other parties, the Greens ultimately fail to address how they would address these systemic problems. Simply acknowledging them and saying they need to be fixed mirrors the language of their fellow parties, and leaves those looking for hope with little to cheer.

 

A Million Unresolved Cases

            Given the vagueness and platitudes around the issue of family reunification, Amitis and her mom, Fatemah, have had to resort to the only approach that seems to make the system move: public pressure. They have started a petition, and are sharing private details of a difficult situation in the hope that someone in the system will find their file, recognize that it takes very little time to approve their temporary resident permit, and help rescue this teenaged girl from the throes of severe, separation-induced depression and the other difficult conditions she faces each day in a country wracked by economic sanctions and an out-of-control pandemic.

The fact that Canada’s refusal to fix the system is forcing Amitis and her mom to share their story with the world is inexcusable. When she was 5 years old, Amitis could still believe in the magic of a mother’s hugs and tears to bring her back from the brink of despair. But it’s harder to believe right now because of the 10,000 kilometres and two lost years that have kept them apart. Their only hope now lies in building the same kind of sustained public pressure that has reunited other separated families who, like Jihan Qunoo, have had to fight a system that is legally required to assist them in the first place.

Meanwhile, there’s over a million others who require real system change and immediate action to end the pain of indefinite family separation.

 

Help Immigration Minister Find His Heart: Call to Reunite 7 War-Traumatized Gaza Families in Canada

There really is no place like home, and sometimes, folks like Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino (below, perhaps from a community theatre production???) become so immune from pain and suffering that they, like the Tin Man in Wizard of Oz,  forget they have a heart. It’s our job to help him find it and help reunite these 7 separated Palestinian families in Canada.

Please call (sample message below) on Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 13-14) to urge the immediate issuance of permits to the 7 war-traumatized Gaza families separated from their loved ones in Canada.  Ottawa has shown it will respond if it feels public pressure (and indeed, one family was finally approved last week thanks to your pressure!). Let’s continue to do the same for those still needing to flee Gaza, which was bombed again last weekend so severely that everyone on the Gaza Strip heard the roar of the missile strikes.  

 

On Monday and Tuesday, please POLITELY call Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino's campaign office (they are open early and work late) with the sample message below. Canada must immediately issue temporary resident permits to allow these families to leave the Gaza war zone and be reunited with their loved ones in Canada.

There really is no place like home, and sometimes, folks like Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino become so immune from pain and suffering that they, like the Tin Man in Wizard of Oz,  forget they have a heart. It’s our job to help him find it. 

 
SAMPLE CALL
1. (416) 947-8579 campaign office for Mr. Mendicino
They will likely answer the phone here. Please be respectful with these volunteers, who are very nice people. Anything negative will reflect badly on these families!!!!

Ask to speak with Mr. Mendicino and, if he is not there, ask if you can leave a message. Have a FRIENDLY chat with the worker, who may say, “This is not the right office,” to which you can reply, “Marco Mendicino is campaigning on the promise of family reunification and this is an urgent message about 7 Gaza families whose lives are at risk. This needs to be heard by him and all of his team.”

Sample message:
Hi, my name is XXX and I'm calling from XXXXXXXXX to support the 7 Palestinian refugee families in Canada who are trying to bring their kids and spouses here from Gaza while their permanent residency applications are processed. Mr. Mendicino is aware of these cases and all the file numbers are on his desk. Gaza was bombed yet again a week ago, and the conditions of daily life are desperate. The kids are traumatized, their loved ones here sick with fear. Canada has issued permits to reunite 5 refugee families from Gaza so far but the process is too slow. Some of the families are in Egypt right now but their visitor visas run out soon, which could force them back to renewed danger in Gaza. We would like to see blanket 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 and also in responding to crises like we are seeing in Afghanistan. Please have a heart and act before it is too late.”

You can ALSO leave the same message at Marco Mendicino’s office: 416-781-5583

WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO:
1. Sign and share this petition: https://www.change.org/p/allow-war-traumatized-kids-from-gaza-to-live-with-parents-in-canada

2. Call and Write to the Immigration Minister.
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, Minister@cic.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,

Gaza was bombed again last week in some of the same neighbourhoods where the loved ones of 7 in-Canada Palestinian refugees live. The explosions were so loud they were heard across the Gaza Strip. 

I am writing today in support of these 7 separated Gaza refugee families in Canada who urgently need immediate Early Entrance Temporary Resident Permits. Similar permits have already been granted to five separated Palestinian families. All the applications are on your desk and in the overseas visa post. These need to be processed on an urgent basis.

Better yet, issue blanket permits to these families now and process their TRP applications while they are safely reunited in Canada.

These families have not seen their loved ones for 2 to 3 years, and 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.

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.”

You have shown the willingness to expedite permits when the crisis is ever-present, as in Afghanistan. The same threat to the lives  of families is ever-present in Gaza.

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. Four other Palestinian refugees in Canada will soon be reunited with their families because their permits have also been approved.

I am joining many others in calling on you to do the same for the remaining 7 Gaza families, whose circumstances enduring a humanitarian crisis match the conditions that gave rise to Qunoo’s happy family reunion.

Some of the families are in Egypt right now but their visitor visas run out soon, which could force them back to renewed danger in Gaza.

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 escalation of violence, "This time, a friend or a neighbour gets killed. Next time, will it be my child?”

NAME
CITY, Province

 

3. You can also contribute to the costs of getting these families back together again through the Rural Refugee Rights Network’s Family Reunification Fund with etransfers to tasc@web.ca or cheques to Homes not Bombs, mailed to 2583 Carling Ave., Unit M052, Ottawa, ON K2B 7H7

Wonderful news! Two more Palestinian families from Gaza Win Permits, Keep up Pressure!

 

Thanks to your support, 2 more Palestinian refugees from Gaza have won permits to reunite their families in Canada after more than 2 years of devastating separation! One is London’s Ola Dahman. Her baby Layan will soon meet her father and 2 older brothers for the first time in her life. This brings the total number of families we have reunited to 4 out of 12. So we still have work to do for the remaining 8 families.

Ola took her plea to the airwaves this week in powerful interviews on CBC (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-gaza-mom-family-1.6118670) and CTV (https://london.ctvnews.ca/london-ont-woman-pleads-with-federal-government-to-help-reunite-her-family-1.5528240). 

Public pressure, the chain fast for family reunification, the petition (over 15,600 people have signed and youo can share it at https://www.change.org/p/allow-war-traumatized-kids-from-gaza-to-live-with-parents-in-canada), letter writing, phone calls, and a wave of profound community love are pushing things forward in the face of so many institutional obstacles. We hope to be able to share more good news in the days to come.

In the meantime, please keep up the pressure, speak with your MP, urge them to tell the Minister of Immigration to issue the Early Entrance Temporary Resident Permits to the remaining 8 families NOW! No more waiting.

You can also support the ongoing work of the Rural Refugee Rights Network, which has led this campaign, with an etransfer to tasc@web.ca (or send a cheque to Homes not Bombs, 2583 Carling Ave., Unit M052, Ottawa, ON K2B 7H7).

Thank you again!

Matthew Behrens

Rural Refugee Rights Network

Great News: First of 11 Gaza Families Receives Permits to Come to Canada!

We are so happy to share this incredible news! The first of 11 war-traumatized Gaza refugee families that we have tried to reunite in Canada received their temporary resident permits today, almost two months after we started our intensive reunification campaign. 

Public pressure and a lot of detailed paperwork mean that Abdallah Alhamadni can now hug his family for the first time in over 2 years. He no longer has to fear that his wife and boys will die in a hail of missile strikes.
 
While we celebrate this victory, we need to keep up the pressure to get permits for the other 10 families who have been separated for 2 to 4 years. 

We also need to prepare for the arrival of Alhamadni and, hopefully soon, the other families, by raising funds for airfare and accommodation as well as support to allow them to get resettled.

If you can contribute to the family reunification fund, please send an etransfer to the Rural Refugee Rights Network at tasc@web.ca To send a cheque, write it out to Homes not Bombs, put Gaza Families in memo, and mail to 2583 Carling Ave., Unit M052, Ottawa ON K2B 7H7

As part of the public pressure, please continue sharing and promoting the family reunification petition: https://www.change.org/p/allow-war-traumatized-kids-from-gaza-to-live-with-parents-in-canada


Thanks to all who fasted, who lobbied, who called, who prayed, who proofread, who contributed submission ideas, who provided legal and political guidance, who opened their hearts to allow this family's hearts to begin healing from war, separation, and the unlivable conditions of Gaza under the occupation.

And special thanks as always to the courageous woman who helped open this door when she took the story of her own family to the national airwaves, Jihan Qunoo, whose family is now getting accustomed to their new, happy life in Ottawa.

Let's keep pushing until everyone is safely reunited and home!

Matthew Behrens

Rural Refugee Rights Network

Chain Fast For Refugee Family Reunification: Bring 11 of Gaza's War-Traumatized Families to Canada

 

(Details on how to join the fast are below, as are actions you can take even if you are not fasting!)

Please pick a day to fast during our 22-Day Chain Fast in support of 25 war-traumatized Gaza children desperately seeking to come to Canada and be reunited with their moms/dads and other siblings. It runs July 7 to July 28, 70th anniversary of the adoption of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, to which Canada is a signatory.

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.


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, and NO LATER THAN July 28.

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.


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.” 



How to participate in the Chain Fast
Pick a day (or a series of days) to fast during the 22-day time period and email your name and town to tasc@web.ca A list of open dates and names is available at http://rrrncanada.blogspot.com/ . More than one person can fast on the same date.
 

Fast according to your preferred tradition (a full 24 hours, liquids only, sun up to sun down).
 

The fast is open to anyone (you can join even if you are not living in the land known as Canada). Even if you cannot fast, we encourage you to do these actions below!

On the day they fast we encourage you to:
a. take a selfie with a simple message (ie, Reunite the 11 Gaza Refugee Families in Canada; No Hugs With Mommy For 5 Years? Support Canada’s Gaza 11! Families Belong Together, Reunite Canada’s Gaza 10!


b. Write an email (sample below) to Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino  

 
c. Write a letter to a local newspaper about why you are fasting, and perhaps link your fast to the larger issues faced by refugee claimants in Canada and the endless delays in reuniting with families. 

 
d. Share this petition: https://www.change.org/p/allow-war-traumatized-kids-from-gaza-to-live-with-parents-in-canada

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.

 
Thanks for your support!


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 fasting 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.  

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. 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 while their permanent residency applications are processed. The ceasefire is fragile, with two nights of bombing this week alone. 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 earlier this month. We would like to see blanket 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.”

 

 

 

 

DATES and NAMES of FASTERS

Wednesday, July 7, Mary Cowper-Smith, Charlottetown, PEI; Suzanne Valois, Ottawa; Janet Bourgon

Thursday, July 8, Lina Burhan, Montreal

Friday, July 9, Marco Djoric Montréal; Jeanie Campbell, London

Saturday, July 10, Maureen McGahey, Perth, ON

Sunday, July 11, Tasneem Fazel, Calgary, Sullivan Dyment, Toronto

Monday, July 12, Marcia Perryman, Hastings, ON

Tuesday, July 13, Will Allen, Hamilton, ON

Wednesday, July 14, Mary Cowper-Smith, Charlottetown, PEI; Suzanne Valois, Ottawa

Thursday, July 15, Shari Wynne, Calgary; Murray Lumley, Toronto

Friday, July 16, Betty Winholtz, Morro Bay, California

Saturday, July 17, Brett Ducharme, Winnipeg; Alison Gothard, Kitchener, ON

Sunday, July 18, Mary Shiella and David Heap, London, ON

Monday, July 19, Marcia Perryman, Hastings, ON; Wendy Goldsmith, London, ON; Hana Atieh and her 3 kids

Tuesday, July 20, Kristen Vettraino, Toronto, ON; Wendy Goldsmith, London, ON

Wednesday, July 21, Jozef Konyari, Toronto; Wendy Goldsmith, London, ON

Thursday, July 22, Alex Vernon, Windsor; Wendy Goldsmith, London, ON

Friday, July 23, Murray Lumley, Toronto; Wendy Goldsmith, London, ON

Saturday, July 24

Sunday, July 25, Máire Noonan, Montreal

Monday, July 26, Neal Marchuk, Niigata, Japan

Tuesday, July 27, Anthony McAffee, Fredericton, NB

Wednesday, July 28, Kaleigh Quinn, Winnipeg