Montreal, Canada – Abdallah Alhamadni is aware of the clock is ticking.
Day by day, the 51-year-old Palestinian father of three checks to see whether or not his efforts to carry his kin in Gaza to security have superior.
However Alhamadni, a Canadian everlasting resident who lives in Milton, Ontario, says he’s caught in a harmful ready recreation, as Israel continues to wage struggle on the Gaza Strip.
“We really feel paralysed, depressed, annoyed, crying,” he informed Al Jazeera. “Generally we really feel we must be sturdy to help them as a result of we’re the one hope for them. It’s plenty of issues coming collectively, and we’re alone.”
Initially from the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Alhamadni is attempting to carry 61 kin, together with 27 kids, to Canada by way of a brand new non permanent visa programme for Palestinians affected by Israel’s army offensive.
Unveiled final month, the scheme permits Canadian residents and everlasting residents to use to carry prolonged relations from Gaza to the nation, the place they are going to be granted a brief residency visa for as much as three years.
However the course of has prompted criticism from candidates and human rights advocates.
Alhamadni known as it complicated and time-consuming. Gaza stays beneath heavy Israeli fireplace and faces common electrical energy and web outages, so Alhamadni has struggled to succeed in his kin and procure the data mandatory to finish the functions.
The quantity of private particulars Palestinians are being requested to supply has additionally come beneath scrutiny, with Canadian immigration attorneys saying the method goes past what is usually required.
One type (PDF) asks folks to supply an in depth employment historical past going again to age 16, in addition to hyperlinks to social media accounts and an inventory of all their in-laws. It additionally asks candidates to element any scars or accidents that required medical consideration, together with how they sustained them.
“They’re placing all [these] unimaginable situations on prime of our heads,” mentioned Alhamadni, who informed Al Jazeera that his kin have been displaced a number of occasions for the reason that struggle in Gaza started. “I’m attempting [to do] no matter I can.”
The programme
Marc Miller, Canada’s minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, introduced the opening of the non permanent resident visa programme on January 9, three months after the struggle in Gaza started.
The transfer got here amid public requires the Canadian authorities to do extra to assist residents of the besieged enclave. Not less than 25,900 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza for the reason that begin of the struggle on October 7.
High United Nations officers have repeatedly known as for a ceasefire because the territory reels from the mass displacement of its residents, a crippled healthcare system, and a scarcity of water, meals and different humanitarian provides.
“The scenario on the bottom in Gaza is difficult and risky,” Miller mentioned in a press release asserting the Canadian visa programme. “These new measures present a humanitarian pathway to security and acknowledge the significance of conserving households collectively given the continuing disaster.”
However Ottawa confronted quick criticism when it revealed it solely deliberate to situation as much as 1,000 non permanent visas to Palestinians from Gaza — a cap that rights advocates mentioned was too low. Miller later mentioned there was no strict restrict on the variety of functions that might be accepted.
In an electronic mail to Al Jazeera, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) mentioned the programme “expires as soon as 1,000 functions have been accepted into processing or one 12 months after the general public coverage comes into impact, whichever comes first”.
“IRCC continues to be versatile as we assess the scenario, together with the volumes of functions acquired and the power to facilitate eligible relations to depart Gaza and attain a secure third nation,” the spokesman mentioned.
As of January 16, Canada was processing 144 functions, although none had been finalised, the spokesman added. The federal government additionally mentioned there is no such thing as a assure that candidates will be capable to go away Gaza, which is beneath a strict Israeli siege.
Egypt has additionally restricted departures by way of the Rafah crossing at Gaza’s southern border, as a part of a long-running blockade.
“If persons are in a position to go away Gaza, the safety evaluation can be accomplished within the third county the place IRCC will be capable to gather biometrics,” the IRCC spokesperson mentioned. “IRCC will then finalize the [temporary resident visa] utility and render a choice on whether or not [the] particular person is accepted to come back to Canada.”
Bureaucratic ‘cruelty’
In accordance with Naseem Mithoowani, an immigration lawyer in Toronto, the Canadian authorities has failed to supply ample info and clear communication in regards to the visa programme, fuelling confusion within the Palestinian group.
“Individuals are anxious in regards to the cap and whether or not that’s going to be expanded; how functions are being assessed by way of their place within the queue; [and] why some folks getting additional forward than others regardless of making use of on the identical time,” Mithoowani informed Al Jazeera.
“There’s a scarcity of transparency across the course of itself.”
She mentioned Palestinian Canadians have additionally expressed concern about a few of the programme necessities, together with with the ability to present monetary help for his or her kin from Gaza. Additionally they have requested who will see the data supplied within the functions and whether or not will probably be shared with different international locations.
“The Palestinian group has misplaced plenty of belief in our authorities, and in order that’s a part of, I feel, the elevated nervousness ranges or the elevated want for communication on this specific case,” Mithoowani mentioned.
Yameena Ansari, an immigration and refugee lawyer in Calgary, additionally mentioned that, whereas the programme initially supplied a “ray of hope” for a lot of Palestinians in Canada, “their hopes have been rapidly dashed” once they understood its restricted scope and necessities.
“We have now been knowledgeable that these very invasive questions which can be being requested are coming from Canada. They’re not coming from Israel or Egypt,” she informed Al Jazeera.
Safety checks are an bizarre a part of the immigration course of, Ansari defined. However “the concept of throwing that many types at people who find themselves attempting to flee a disaster” is unfathomable.
“One thing that’s by no means misplaced on me … is the cruelty of types,” Ansari mentioned. “We might be merciless to folks in bureaucratic, administrative methods.”
She additionally identified that what might seem like a small barrier to making use of might be insurmountable for somebody grappling with violence and displacement.
Minister defends plan
When requested in regards to the outcry over the visa utility’s questions, the IRCC spokesman informed Al Jazeera that Canada is using a “multi-stage safety screening strategy” to the Gaza visa programme.
“That is a part of a typical observe in disaster response conditions the place IRCC doesn’t have a presence on the bottom to provoke preliminary screening and assortment of biometrics, as we did with Afghanistan,” the spokesman mentioned.
“The extra background info established within the type permits us to gather enhanced biographic info to start conducting safety screening whereas the applicant continues to be in Gaza.”
Miller, Canada’s immigration minister, additionally has pointed to safety issues to justify the questions. “These are particulars that we’d like. We have no idea who these persons are; they don’t seem to be Canadians, they don’t seem to be everlasting residents,” he informed CBC final week.
“Anybody that has any expertise immigrating to Canada is aware of that there are plenty of intrusive questions, and coming to Canada — to be fairly frank — isn’t a proper. I feel we do, however, have an obligation on this humanitarian disaster to do one thing,” Miller mentioned.
“Lots of sympathy for the those who should undergo this — I can’t think about the scenario they’re in. However we do want assurances about who we’re getting out, and people particulars I do concede usually might be intrusive.”
‘Absurd, unconscionable’
Nonetheless, Julia Sande, a human rights regulation and coverage campaigner at Amnesty Worldwide Canada, drew a distinction between Canada’s response to Israel’s struggle in Gaza and its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Simply weeks after the struggle in Ukraine started in 2022, Ottawa launched a particular immigration pathway to permit Ukrainians and their quick relations — together with these with none ties to Canada — to hunt security within the nation.
There was no cap on the variety of candidates. Some charges and different procedures have been waived, and greater than 210,000 Ukrainians have since arrived in Canada by way of the scheme, in response to authorities figures.
“The programme for Ukrainians fleeing was one thing, I assume, uncommon whenever you examine it to Canada’s programmes traditionally, but it surely was fantastic,” Sande mentioned. “It confirmed that Canada is greater than able to opening its arms and welcoming folks fleeing harmful conditions.”
But within the case of Gaza, Sande identified that the Canadian authorities has erected further boundaries for Palestinians “understanding that they’re fleeing abominable ranges of struggling”.
“On what foundation are we treating civilians in Gaza in another way? What assumptions are being made about them?” Sande requested. The method, she mentioned, raises issues about racism and the prospect that “Gazans are being painted as a safety risk”.
“The requirement to elucidate scars whenever you’re a inhabitants that’s been subjected to relentless bombardment, which Canada itself could also be contributing to by way of its arms exports to Israel — it’s absurd, it’s unconscionable,” she mentioned.
For Alhamadni, the wait drags on. His household’s visa requests stay within the early phases of the applying course of, and Alhamadni continues to be consumed with worry that the visas could also be issued too late, in the event that they’re issued in any respect.
“My household is the [whole] world. My household is every little thing for me,” he mentioned. “I can’t watch for a minute. In a minute, one thing will occur. One bomb will come.”
But regardless of the hurdles, Alhamadni — who’s elevating cash to assist pay for his kin’ visa functions and their journeys to Canada — careworn that he has not misplaced hope.
“I consider sooner or later that we’ll have our freedom,” he informed Al Jazeera. “At some point the sunshine will come. At some point we’ll see a greater future.”
