Ottawa woman hoping emergency program finally gets extended family out of Gaza

An Ottawa woman is hoping to bring her brothers, sisters and their families to Canada from war-torn Gaza through a new temporary residency program.

Earlier this week, the federal government launched its special immigration measures program for extended family members of Palestinian Canadians trying to escape the war in Gaza, allowing up to 1,000 of them to stay in Canada on a temporary basis.

Jihan Qunoo anxiously logged onto the program's website to register her family members when it went live on Tuesday. 

"It was so stressful for me. I really cried," Qunoo said. 

Qunoo fled to Canada from Gaza as a refugee about five years ago. She had to leave behind her husband and three daughters. It took two years to bring them to Canada. 

Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Qunoo's desperation to bring the rest of her family over to safety is at an all time high. 

"I'm so scared to lose any one of them. I can't manage this," Qunoo said "They keep moving from one place to another, looking for safety, but there is no safe place in Gaza."

Israel launched its war in Gaza after a cross-border rampage on Oct. 7 by militants from Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction. Israeli officials said 1,200 people were killed, mainly civilians, and more than 240 people were taken hostage back to Gaza.

In the months since, Israel's aerial and ground offensive has laid waste to much of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 23,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.

South Africa is leading a charge at the UN's top court that Israel's military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide campaign.

Qunoo said the temporary resident visa process was more demanding than she expected.

The application forms require information on her family members that she doesn't have on hand, including details of their social media accounts or information from their former employers. 

"I feel embarrassed calling them or texting them asking them to give me their name of supervisor when they were 16 or 18," Qunoo said.

"I feel they will feel like I'm not feeling what they are going through right now."

Ottawa Morning12:12Ottawa woman hopes to bring family in Gaza to Canada

Jihan Qunoo applied for special visas for her brother, his wife and their five children to seek refuge in Canada. She has three other siblings she’s hoping to add to the list.

Program requirements 'reasonable,' government says

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller said the application and vetting process needs to be extensive. 

"Given the fact that we can't go into Gaza to do our own background checks, our own biometrics, I think it is reasonable given the security concerns," Miller said.

The program allows Palestinians who are extended family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to stay in Canada for three years — including spouses, common-law partners, children, grandchildren, siblings, parents and grandparents.

The applicant must be able to financially support their family members while they're in the country. 

A similar program launched for Ukrainians fleeing the country after Russia invaded in 2022. It had a much larger cap and the government has since accepted more than 210,000 Ukrainian refugees. 

Miller says comparing the two situations is like "apples and oranges."

"In the case of Ukraine, you're dealing with a functioning government under assault from a nuclear aggressor," Miller said.

"Canadians asked us that their loved ones be welcomed here that have a Palestinian origin, origin in Gaza, and we said yes. So, we are very much comparing two different scenarios," he added. 

Some flexibility on 1,000-person cap

Miller said that 1,000 number is not a hard cap and the government is "willing to revisit it."

"The only reason we put [a cap] in place is to look at what the numbers are initially and what the flow of people willing to sponsor family members coming into Canada is," Miller said. 

So far, the federal government has received a "significant interest" in the visa program, but Miller said the number of complete files are limited. 

As for how long the process will take, the government isn't guaranteeing a time frame on when applicants can expect their family members to get out of Gaza. 

"First and foremost we'd like to get them out of the Rafah crossing into Cairo so they are physically safe and then complete the biometrics so that people can be brought back to Canada," Miller said. 

"But to tell people that they are going to get out in short order I think would be entertaining false hope."