Hamilton man applies to bring his family from Gaza to Canada

A local Hamilton man is one of many Palestinian-Canadians applying to bring his immediate family from Gaza to Canada.

He’s applying through a new government program that will grant 1,000 Palestinians temporary Visas.

Many people are scrambling to get their applications in on time, as the government says they’ll be looking at applications on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Rani Hemaid, one of many Palestinian-Canadians applying to bring his immediate family from Gaza to Canada, says the process has been stressful and confusing.

“I’m very disappointed. I’m very stressed. I don’t know what to tell my family, you know, everyone is waiting,” Hemaid said.

“I’m applying for my mother, my father, my sister’s family, my brother’s family. There are ten children ranging from the age of 2 to 11.”

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Most of Hemaid’s family lived in Northern Gaza, and has been forced to move five times since the Israeli invasion began following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th.

Almost all of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced by the invasion.

Hemaid’s family is now sheltering near the Rafah border to Egypt, and he says the situation is dire.

“My sister is calling me, she has no food, she has no money. There’s no way to reach out and even send her any money or support her. She has five kids,” Hemaid said.

The program provides visas to bring Palestinians impacted by the war to Canada for three years, as long as they have an immediate Canadian relative who is willing to support them.

The online portal to apply opened this afternoon.

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Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the program will only offer 1-thousand visas… and the ministry will look at the applications on first-come-first-serve basis.

“Now the Palestinian-Canadians and permanent residents are fighting to see who can register first to the application. It’s very inhumane,” Miller said.

Hemaid is calling on the Canadian government to raise that cap, and to make the process more transparent.

“The minister of immigration put the announcement out December 22nd and then they all left for their holidays to celebrate with their families, while we are under stress waiting for a call to be heard, maybe one of our families is killed,” Hemaid said.

For now, he’s stuck, waiting to see if his application is chosen, and if he’s able to bring his family to safety.

The Ministry of Immigration has not provided a timeline, either for how long the application process will take, or for when families can expected to be reunited with their loved ones.