While many of us this week were shovelling snow or deciding if we could afford to splurge on a head of lettuce, some of our Canadian neighbours were fighting for their families’ lives. They have been engaged in a desperate undertaking, jumping through life-or-death hoops as they try to get loved ones out of Gaza – a war zone where thousands have been killed, many more have been injured or displaced, food and water are scarce, medical services are largely unavailable, and conditions are dangerous and deplorable.
Canada has agreed to open its doors to 1,000 Gazans who are relatives of Canadian citizens or permanent residents. (Or possibly more; the originally announced cap is not absolute, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said.) The temporary immigration program, which offers three years of sanctuary, stipulates that the Canadian family member – or “anchor” – will be responsible for financial support.
The program launched this month. But the process has created confusion, concern and panic.
It is a two-stage application. If the first step – an expression of interest – is approved, a second, much more comprehensive step demands detailed information, sometimes from decades ago. Vancouver-based immigration and refugee lawyer Randall Cohn described this to me as absolutely the most onerous standard form he has ever seen.
Applicants are asked to provide employment history from the age of 16, with dates, names of their supervisors, any disciplinary problems and why they quit. This applies to people as old as 79.
I’m a lot younger than that and I certainly cannot remember the name of my manager at the Don Mills Centre’s Body Shop in 1984, or if I ever got in trouble for returning late from my break. And I am not under duress. With all that these people are going through, how are they supposed to remember these details? Why should they have to?
They are also asked to list their scars and injuries. And to disclose all social media accounts – presumably to check for terrorist-supporting posts. Fine. But teenagers sometimes post stuff that is offensive and even awful. And I don’t think sharing ill-advised memes should preclude these kids from being given a shot at safety.
Mr. Miller has said that the prospect of a Hamas fighter or commander involved in the Oct. 7 attacks making it to Canada “is probably the most extreme security concern that we have – and I think it’s very real,” as The Globe and Mail’s Marie Woolf has reported.
But of course proper security checks are being conducted on Gazans who want to leave.
As Mr. Cohn explained to me, this level of scrutiny sometimes arises at a later stage in the immigration or refugee process, should the standard screening produce a specific reason for concern. Do we really need to ask every applicant to detail their wounds to ensure Canada is not opening the floodgates to terrorists?
Further, initially announcing the program with a 1,000-person cap has caused much anxiety. “Families in Canada who are part of this traumatized community … are all of a sudden pitted against each other, feeling like they’ve got to compete to be in that first 1,000,” said Mr. Cohn, who is part of several ad-hoc groups working on this issue, including the Gaza Family Reunification Program.
Canada has recently welcomed more than 210,000 Ukrainians. While the situations aren’t exactly comparable, I think it’s fair to ask: Why are there special rules for Gazans?
This year, The Globe is publishing A Nation’s Paper, a book of essays examining Canada’s history and this newspaper’s role as its chronicler. I wrote a chapter about our record on immigration, something of personal interest to me, as my parents were essentially refugees.
I read deeply into the archives about waves of immigrants who came or wanted to come to this place, and the obstacles put in their way by the government or citizens, whose racism was often overt. So many stories depicted hostility toward people wanting to escape a terrible situation elsewhere – people just like us, who wanted to live without fear or starvation.
In many instances, Canada did not get it right. Reading some of these accounts was heartbreaking and maddening. We should not make these mistakes again.
Never forget that Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body was photographed washed up on a beach, died seeking refuge with his family – and that his family had hoped to come to Canada, where his aunt lives.
In a perfect world – and no, the world isn’t anything close to it – Canada would make it easier for these people fleeing hellish conditions to find sanctuary here. And eventually, they would be able to return to Gaza, where they can rebuild and live under self-determination. I, like many others (if not Benjamin Netanyahu) hope for a two-state solution with dignity and security for all.
Until then, we should not be making it this difficult for Gazans to find security here, with their families.
Marsha Lederman