Families in Gaza are suing Canada for visa processing delays
Gazan families are suing Canada for delays in processing their refugee applications after Trudeau’s Liberal government vowed to take in more refugees from the region.
Author: Clayton DeMaine
Gazan families are suing Canada for delays in processing their refugee applications after Trudeau’s Liberal government vowed to take in more refugees from the region.
As reported by the Toronto Star, eleven families representing 53 people, including 27 children and babies, who applied through a “temporary resident pathway” for extended family in Gaza have filed a lawsuit after a year of not hearing any status updates.
When the program was announced in May of last year, the Liberal government said it would take in five times the amount of refugees from Gaza than it originally promised, raising the target from 1,000 to 5,000 refugees.
The program, set to close applications by April 22, 2025, requires that Gazan applicants are related to a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who “lives or intends to live in Canada.” The applicant's family member will pledge to support the related applicant for one year.
According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 4,782 of 5000 Palestinian refugees have been “accepted into processing” as of Jan. 4, 2024.
Even though the cut-off date for applications still hasn’t ended, the eleven families are suing and claiming that the Canadian government is prolonging their “exposure to life-threatening and inhumane conditions” due to the long wait times. The Toronto Star report details some of the traumatic war-related experiences that some of the applicants report having had to witness.
The Immigration Department reportedly said that all people applying through the program must meet “eligibility criteria and admissibility requirements,” which include security screening before being approved. It receives a large volume of web form submissions and is “currently reviewing them for completeness,” saying that processing times vary based on the details of each application.
At the time the program was announced Immigration experts, Jewish rights organizations and even U.S. senators warned Canada of potential safety concerns involved in importing a difficult-to-vet population.
Some of the concerns were the potential for dangerous individuals to slip through the cracks. Polls show high levels of support for Hamas, including the Oct. 7 terror attack, an education system which has been found endorsing violence against Jews, and the lack of infrastructure required for background checks in the terrorist-controlled region poses a challenge to mitigate those risks.
One poll taken by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in March 2024 found that 71% of people in Gaza and the West Bank endorsed Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack, 59% had a preference for Hamas governing Gaza, and only 5% of Palestinians viewed Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7 as a war crime.
This comes off the backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump proposing that Arab countries take in Gazan refugees after he suggested a U.S. takeover of the Gaza Strip.
Egypt and Jordan, two neighbouring Arab countries, rejected Trump’s proposal to help resettle Palestinian refugees.
At the same time, the plan was condemned by several Arab countries. In a joint letter signed by the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Palestinian Authority advisor Hussein al-Sheikh all warned that displacement could further destabilize the region.
While Arab countries refuse Gazan refugees, Western nations such as Australia and Canada continue to welcome them in with open arms.
According to the Refugee Council of Australia, the country granted 2,564 visitor visas to Palestinians from Oct. 7, 2023, to August 2024. Despite the number of visa approvals, only 1,300 Palestinians were reported to have arrived in Australia during that time, with some visas being cancelled over the impracticality of vetting individuals.
In January, the Liberal government began accepting applications for $3,000 tax-free handouts for Gazan refugees, with temporary residents able to claim $1,500 per child.
Their Visa applications should be destroyed immediately. The ones sueing should NEVER be allowed to enter this country. Never Ever!
This is the reason why Canadians want to halt or greatly reduce the number of immigrants to Canada right now.
Liberals government immigration policy is messed up! We have an established process to screen and accept asylum seekers and refugees. However, the current government bypasses the process and leaves our borders wide opened!
Beside, we should ask why the Arab countries rejected to accept those refugees from Gaza? Why should Canada and Australia continue to accept them as refugees?
To Canada first means we need to take ourselves first before we can help others.