‘A horrible feeling’: Gaza refugee waiting to be reunited with her family in Hamilton
Five-year-old Sameer Alshaer thinks about his father and sisters in everything he does.
He talks about when he'll see them again when his mother takes him shopping, when he's eating and when he's at school.
It really breaks my heart," says Amal Albattrawi, his 36-year-old mother. When she drops Alshaer off to school, sometimes she stays to watch the children, imagining her daughters playing among them.
In February 2019, Albattrawi fled Gaza with her son and came to Hamilton as a convention refugee. Her husband, Sherif Alshaer, and daughters, Sireen and Sama, 13 and 11 years old respectively, had to stay behind because they weren't given visas.
Ever since, Albattrawi's been trying to reunite with her family.
She applied for permanent residency (PR) for all of her family in April, but the average wait time is 39 months.
Meanwhile, their lives are in danger. Albattrawi says her husband and daughters have been so close to death that, in a raid earlier this year, the house next door to them was bombed. They lived on one of the most heavily bombed streets, where 42 people were killed in a mid-May attack, including children.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada could not provide a timeline for Albattrawi's case but acknowledged some applicants have faced considerable" wait times.
For privacy reasons, we are unable to comment on individual or specific cases," the department said in an email. Families looking to reunite are among groups being prioritized, said the statement, adding the pandemic caused some delays.
We are aware of the situation faced by the dependents of resettled refugees who might remain in Gaza, and we continue to closely monitor the situation."
Currently, Albattrawi's family is in another country awaiting permission to enter Canada. But they aren't allowed to stay long. With each passing day, Albattrawi worries that they'll be forced back to Gaza.
It's a horrible feeling," she said.
Matthew Behrens, co-ordinator of the Rural Refugee Rights Network, called Albattrawi's case incredibly traumatic and stressful and painful."
He's working with Albattrawi and 13 families like hers through the network, a cross-Canada volunteer group which helps refugees with their cases and settlement.
He noted Canada sometimes grants temporary resident permits (TRPs) that allow people to enter the country before their PR applications are processed. Albattrawi applied for the permit at the end of June but still hasn't heard back. Meanwhile, other families who applied after Albattrawi have already received theirs, Behrens said. He's written to ask why.
For her part, Albattrawi visited incumbent immigration minister Marco Mendicino's office this month with a letter about her family's case. After a few days, she heard from the Canadian embassy in Jordan - which often processes these cases, Behrens said - asking followup questions. But in the two weeks since, there's been silence.
The refugee network is also calling on Canada to issue special immigration measures for Palestinian refugees, which waive normal immigration requirements in extenuating situations. The government currently has special measures in place for Afghan refugees.
They recognize that in a war zone, you can't sit around and upload things when there's no internet," Behrens said. Well, it's similar in Gaza."
He points to the 2018 case of a 13-year-old baseball player whose family - originally from Mexico - sought refugee status in Canada. Dio Gama wanted to go to the U.S. to play in the Little League World Series, but feared he'd be barred from returning to Canada while his application was pending.
The federal government stepped in and gave Gama a temporary resident permit so he could play.
If we can give a TRP to a kid so he can play on his field of dreams, then surely TRPs for the daughters of Amal who survived the most bombed street in Gaza in May, that should be a no-brainer, he said.
Maria Iqbal is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator covering aging Reach her via email: miqbal@thespec.com