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Montreal Canada – “Not value residing in.” Canadian Immigration Minister Mark Miller described the scenario within the Gaza Strip as follows in late December.
At the moment the Palestinian territories have been below extreme Israeli bombardment. At the very least 20,000 folks have been killed, and starvation was spreading at an alarming charge as Israel stopped deliveries of meals, water and different requirements.
As circumstances continued to deteriorate, Miller introduced that the Canadian authorities was launching a particular visa program to permit residents and everlasting residents from Gaza to deliver prolonged members of the family to Canada.
“To be clear, right this moment is about offering humanitarian pathways to security and recognizing the significance of retaining households collectively within the face of ongoing devastation,” he informed reporters on December 21.
However greater than three months later, not a single Palestinian applicant has left the Gaza Strip on account of the visa program.
It has sparked a way of anger and despair amongst households who say Canada has deserted them and their family members — and are demanding motion from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's authorities.
“What are they ready for?” requested Samar Alkhadour, a Palestinian mom who has lived in Canada since 2019 and obtained everlasting residence in February.
Alkhadour started day by day sit-ins exterior Miller's workplace in Montreal, Canada's second-largest metropolis, late final month to strain the federal government to expel his family members from Gaza.
She is attempting to deliver her sister, her sister's husband and their two youngsters – who’re at the moment residing with family members in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza – to Montreal to hitch her and her household.
However the household's purposes are within the early levels of the method, Alkhadour informed Al Jazeera.
“I'm nonetheless combating, I'm nonetheless engaged on it,” she mentioned on the protest in late March, a black-and-white keffiyeh draped over her shoulders. “However deep inside, in my coronary heart, I’m starting to lose hope.
“And that's in all probability the one cause I'm right here – as a result of no person's doing something.”