When leaving Gaza for Canada is almost impossible

Photo: Mathieu Carbasse Le Devoir Shirihan and Ahmed Badah, currently without status, have been waiting for news for several months.

Mathieu Carbasse Cairo

Published at 0:00

• Middle East

More than 9 months after the launch of a federal family reunification program for refugees from Gaza, only 334 Palestinians have been able to benefit from the 5,000 temporary resident visas (TRVs) promised by Canada. To explain this meager figure, the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada (IRCC) points to the closure of the Rafah crossing point last May, which now prevents any applicant from leaving the Gaza Strip. According to the experience of Palestinians that Le Devoirmet in Egypt, the low number of elected officials would rather be linked to the cumbersome selection process.

When the Badah family fled the Gaza Strip in April, they had only one idea in mind: to reach Cairo so they could immigrate to Canada, where members of their close family already live.

“Canada never makes headlines in the news, there don’t seem to be any big problems there. And people seem very nice from what we hear,” says Ahmed, a 39-year-old father whose brother, a Canadian citizen, has lived in Vancouver for more than seven years.

His wife, Shirihan, whose brother Omar also lives in Vancouver, sums up the few prospects they have: “Canada is our only hope.”

Photo: Mathieu Carbasse Le Devoir Shirihan Badah

Eight months after starting the process to come to Canada, the Badah family is still stuck in Egypt, where they have no legal status. Ahmed and Shirihan cannot work, send their two children to school, or access the public health care system.

However, the couple believes they have done everything right to be able to travel to Canada.

A few days after Ottawa implemented a program to reunify Palestinian families on January 9, their respective brothers filed a special form online for crisis situations, along with all the required documents.

Having arrived in Egypt on April 19, not without having paid $15,000 to cross the border with the private company Hala, Shirihan and Ahmed finalized their registration for the program on June 28 by transmitting their biometric data. Their criminal backgrounds are also checked. And since then, nothing.

Why it's blocked ?

“Given the complexity of the situation in Gaza and in order to protect the health and safety of Canadians, a multi-stage security screening approach has been implemented. Processing times vary depending on the details and complexity of each case,” explains the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

This justification perplexes Ahmed, who sees it more as unnecessary bureaucracy.

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Photo: Mathieu Carbasse Le Devoir Ahmed Badah

“Our profile was already verified by Israel and Egypt when we left Gaza. Do we really need to do background checks a third time? ? We Palestinians are always seen as potential terrorists, it’s a bit ridiculous,” he regrets, a little bitterly.

Few authorized applications have been successful

According to figures provided to Devoir by October 5, 4,245 TRV applications had been accepted, out of 5,000 available visas.

Of this number, 733 people who left Gaza on their own were able to submit their applications and were authorized to come to Canada. And of these, only 334 people actually arrived in Canada, or less than 8% of the VRT applications accepted.

Since May and Israel’s closure of the Rafah crossing, IRCC has consistently given the same explanation for the low number of applications that have been successful: the inability of applicants to leave the Gaza Strip. In fact, for a temporary resident visa application to be finalized, individuals must be able to leave the Palestinian enclave to register their biometric data in Egypt.

IRCC’s justification therefore does not apply to the approximately 120,000 Palestinians who have managed to travel to Egypt.

People still perceive us as a threat. That’s just how it works, it’s not fair. We’re not dangerous.

— Ahmed Badah

Double standards

The number of Palestinians who have arrived in Canada in ten months is a far cry from the approximately 300,000 Ukrainians who have arrived in the country since 2022, under a similar program that processed nearly a million applications.

For IRCC, the difference is that in the case of Ukraine, people generally had the option of leaving the country as they pleased. The Gazans that Le Devoir met in Cairo instead point to a difference in treatment between Ukrainians and Palestinians.

This is the case for Ahmed, who wonders why many countries have welcomed Syrians or Ukrainians in recent years, but are now reluctant to open their arms to people from Gaza.

“People still see us as a threat. That's how it works, it's not fair. We're not dangerous. For 99% of us, it's certain that everything would be fine. »

Photo: Mathieu Carbasse Le Devoir The Badah family

This is also the case for Amjad Okal, whom Le Devoir also met in Cairo, where he is waiting for a Canadian visa for himself and his family. “Canada is the country that offers us the most employment and study opportunities, in the case of my son. Unfortunately, there is discrimination against Palestinians. Gaza is less interesting than Ukraine. “

“Fresh water everywhere”

While waiting for the precious sesame for him and his family, Ahmed is patient.

His family's precarious financial situation is causing him a lot of stress, he says. He recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to provide for his family's needs. In addition to financial difficulties, he has health problems: Ahmed suffers from anemia and lost 30 kilos in Gaza. The nightmares continue, too, “almost every night,” he confides.

Adam, his 8-year-old son who has already experienced six wars in his life, also suffers from mental disorders. He walks on tiptoes and Ahmed suspects he has autism. The war has not helped.

The only bright spot for Ahmed is that his parents got their visas for Canada in July, even though they had arrived in Egypt a few weeks before him.

In fact, the last time he spoke to his father, Ahmed asked him what his favorite thing was since he arrived. “Water, there’s fresh water everywhere,” he replied. Ahmed is eager to taste this water too, he told Devoir.