Bureaucratic Genocide: Palestinian Canadians Urge Ottawa to Evacuate Gaza Families

By Staff, Agencies

Omar spent $120,000—much of it a “bribe” to an Egyptian travel company—to help evacuate some of his family members from Gaza.

Such a story is not at all unique for Palestinians in the diaspora desperately waiting to be reunited with their loved ones, or at the very least see them to safety in a third country. 

Omar, the founder of the online community Gazan Canadians, who asked that his last name be withheld, has so far managed to bring one of his seven sisters to Canada, along with her husband and children. But another, who is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, remains in Egypt along with his mother.

His father and brother are still in the enclave, surviving in a tent.

Omar, a former tech worker in Vancouver said, "We are too tired to fight... but I am willing to take it till the end, because my family is going to die." 

He joined other Palestinian Canadians in Ottawa urging faster visa processing, "Israeli" exit permits, and eased checks to evacuate Palestinians safely to Canada.

Since January 2024, the Canadian government pledged to admit 5,000 Palestinians from Gaza on special visas. Nearly two years later, only 886 have arrived, with unclear numbers under the cap due to varied immigration programs.

"They all kind of got lumped in," Jenny Kwan, a member of parliament for the leftist New Democratic Party, told reporters from Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday. 

Kwan went on saying that the government keeps changing its story, citing biometrics they know Palestinians in Gaza can’t complete.

A "workaround" is needed, she added, because "not every single Palestinian is a ‘terrorist’... stop judging them as such". 

Kwan highlighted Ottawa’s 2022 Ukraine emergency program, which bypassed biometrics and caps, allowing many to reach safety—and urged the same treatment for Palestinian families.

Gur Tsubar of Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition said 1,287 Palestinians have cleared policy but await security screening, with 600 under review; over 2,500 in Egypt face similar delays. He noted biometrics are impossible under Gaza’s siege, and families with Canadian approval are often denied exit for fingerprinting or interviews.

Canada’s visa site states it can’t guarantee Gaza exits, but omits that "Israel" controls all exit permits—even though Gaza’s Rafah border is with Egypt, not "Israel".

Tsubar said Canada rejected proposals like mobile biometrics or Red Cross solutions, trapping families while loved ones suffer. He called PM Carney "the master of bureaucratic genocide."

Carney attended the UN conference on the two-state solution, where Canada and some European allies symbolically recognized Palestine.

Kwan urged Canada to honor its promise and urgently evacuate Palestinian families by removing barriers.

Toronto law firm Marku and Lee sued the Federal Court to speed up visa processing for 53 Palestinian families in Gaza.

The firm says half its clients are children, some as young as seven months, and fears the government has left their applications “in limbo” as Gaza’s conditions worsen.

The firm stated their clients face life-threatening conditions in Gaza, including bombed homes, air strikes, starvation, illness, and lack of medical care.

Omar further cautioned that Palestinians have been so "dehumanized" that they are not perceived like any other refugees.

“It’s racism—anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, and hate. Canada has long hated Indigenous peoples, and for us Palestinians, we are indigenous too.”