'Time is blood in Gaza,' says Palestinian Montrealer urging Canada to get relatives out
Samar Alkhdour's 13-year-old daughter, born with cerebral palsy, died before she could come to Quebec
The spring breeze had faded, making way for an early-April snowstorm strong enough to wipe out power across much of the province.
But Samar Alkhdour showed up anyway, Palestinian flag in hand.
"I don't want them to think that there is anything that can stop me," Alkhdour said last Thursday.
It was Day 8 of her sit-in protest in front of Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller's riding office in downtown Montreal. She's been protesting every weekday from about 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Alkhdour is calling on the federal government to improve its plan to bring in family members of Canadian Palestinians who are currently trapped in Gaza.
Last Tuesday, Alkhdour was joined by dozens of supporters. Most days though, the turnout is small. Often, she sits there alone.
During her protests, she says her thoughts are largely dominated by concerns for her family members and the growing death toll in her war-battered home. She also thinks about her 13-year-old daughter, Jana Elkahlout, who wasn't able to leave Gaza and join her parents and siblings in Quebec before it was too late.
Alkhdour fears the clock may be ticking for many more loved ones.
"Time is blood in Gaza," she said.
"I've had to live with that experience of losing a dear child. I don't want that to happen again for my sister, for other family members of mine."
The reunion that never happened
The lengthy bureaucratic process to bring Jana to Canada predates the ongoing wave of violence in Gaza.
Jana was born with cerebral palsy and had severe brain damage. Even during periods of relative peace, caring for her was complicated. In 2017, the plan was for Alkhdour, her husband, Jana and her two other children to leave Gaza for the United States, where the mother of three would pursue a master's degree.
She says Israeli authorities inexplicably denied her husband's request to leave Gaza, forcing the family to make a last-minute decision. Rather than juggling her studies with life as a single mother of three children — including one with a severe disability — she decided to leave Jana behind with her father.
In 2018, her husband was allowed to leave, but Alkhdour says the inability to secure safe ambulance transportation between Gaza and Egypt meant Jana had to once again stay back, this time living with close relatives.
The following year, Alkhdour, her husband and their two other children moved to Quebec and they began the process of reuniting with Jana.
But last year, as Israel's air and ground campaign intensified, Alkhdour says Jana and her relatives were stranded inside a church with limited access to medication or a food processor — given her condition, the teenager could only eat puréed meals.
In January, Jana finally received the green light from the Canadian government to join her parents and siblings, but she was already dead. Her mother says she died of malnutrition.
Alkhdour, now a permanent resident, says she has barely had time to grieve, instead focusing her energy on trying to get other family members out of the war zone. For now, she's trying to sponsor her sister through Canada's temporary visa program for Gazans.
That program, announced in January, has so far produced zero results, failing to bring in a single person from Gaza into the country and prompting Miller, the federal immigration minister, to describe it as a failure.
"So he should do something to fix it," said Alkhdour.
"To be waiting all these weeks is nonsense in times of emergency. There's a tragedy happening, a genocide that's being committed."
In late January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza.
Hamas's attack on Israel last fall, which led to the capture of more than 250 hostages, killed around 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, the retaliatory bombing campaign has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians in six months.
Leaving Gaza 'extremely challenging'
Canadians who want to help relatives leave Gaza need to go through several steps. First, they need to complete two forms: one to signal their intent to support their family members and a second one, called a crisis web form, where relevant pieces of Canadian identification must be submitted.
If that goes well, applicants get a unique reference code by email. The next step is using that code to complete an online temporary resident visa (TRV) form, where the government will review the eligibility of the family members listed in the application.
If the government doesn't detect any red flags, the next step is collecting those family members' biometrics, but Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) can only collect those if those people find a way out of Gaza.
"Biometrics can only be completed after people leave Gaza, as IRCC has no presence there," IRCC spokesperson Matthew Krupovich told CBC News in a statement.
"Movement out of Gaza remains extremely challenging and may not be possible at this time, as countries and other actors set their own entry and exit requirements."
Officially, the program has a cap of 1,000 applications, though the minister has said that limit could increase if needed.
According to Krupovich, Canada had received 986 TRV applications as of April 2.
"The government of Canada has put forward names of people who passed preliminary eligibility and admissibility reviews to local authorities for approval, but does not ultimately decide who can exit Gaza," he wrote.
He also wrote that 98 people who have completed the entire process and been approved to come here have found a way to leave Gaza as of April 2, though Canada did not help them exit the territory.
"We are not aware of any arrivals [in Canada] at this time."
'Mentally, emotionally, I'm in Gaza'
Alkhdour wants Canada to simplify the TRV process and remove the 1,000-person limit. She's also adding her voice to the chorus of observers calling for a ceasefire so that if people are able to leave, they don't get killed before they make it out.
Her plan is to keep protesting until serious changes are implemented. At times, though, she does wonder if what she's doing is worth it.
"But I just can't stay at home and see images and videos or think about my family in Gaza and just do nothing," she said.
"I'm physically here [in Quebec]. Mentally, emotionally, I'm in Gaza."
Alkhdour says she's found strength in the support she's received from strangers who show up at her protests, like Ny Albert, a student in the city who has also taken part in larger gatherings in recent months.
"Every single person should be doing what they can and if what you can do is just show up every now and then and make someone know that they're not alone, then I think that's worthwhile," said Albert.
"It's really like a litmus test for morality right now ... We're going to look back in a few years and I would hope that we all really question what we did in that time."
Alkhdour wanted to live in Canada because she saw the country as a promoter of international law, equality and human rights.
"But to experience what I'm experiencing right now and with the genocide being committed in the Gaza Strip, this has crushed all these concepts in my mind about Canada," she said.
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With files from Hénia Ould-Hammou