“PR, promises, then nothing.”

Protests in major cities across the country are taking place outside Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) offices to expose the deadly consequences of government inaction for Palestinian refugees stuck waiting for visas and evacuation from constant bombardment and increasingly dangerous conditions in the besieged Gaza Strip. 

These sit-ins are coordinated by the Gazan Canadian Families League to take place simultaneously on July 15th in at least six cities across four provinces. Coming a week after the Israeli army murdered another two students accepted to Canadian universities for the 2026 school year, protestors highlighted the Liberal government's program as a disingenuous PR stunt disguised as an humanitarian effort to help the Palestinian victims of Israel's ongoing genocide. 

Many of the hundreds of Palestinians waiting for the IRCC's "Special Immigration Measures for Gaza" program to take effect have been killed by Israel while the ministry drags its feet.

North Star interviewed several members of the Gazan Canadian Families League at the protest in Vancouver, including Nariman Ajjur, who gave context for the action outside the IRCC office:

"We were promised that our families will get to safety but it's been more than 18 months now and nothing has happened. Our families are still facing death, destruction, and starvation. So, because of that we are here today to say that we need our families to be safe."

Ajjur said that refugees from Gaza are not getting equal treatment from the Canadian government in comparison to other crises (such as Ukraine) where refugees have been met with open hands and pathways. In December 2023 the Immigration Ministry, after pressure from Palestinians and human rights organizations in Canada, announced the "Special Immigration Measures for Gaza" program which Nariman said gave their community a momentary sense of relief. However, after many more months of zero action by the Liberals, Gazan Canadians began to re-apply pressure.

Omar, another Palestinian-Canadian, said that "it's a PR show as always. This is what we have been seeing from the Liberal government. PR, promises, then nothing." He suggests that the justifications the IRCC deploys are excuses, saying "other countries were able to evacuate their own citizens and their family members from the Gaza Strip. Canada has done nothing like that."

Omar recounted their unsuccessful attempts to appeal to the current Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lena Diab. The minister had refused to meet with members of the Gazan Canadian Families League when they came to Ottawa for a prearranged meeting. "She gave us the cold shoulder, and it's a complete and full rejection of us or even sitting at the table [with us]. We have sent many letters to her, her team, and her chief of staff, asking them to meet us, to tell us what are the updates."

"I'm not going to wait until my family is killed by the Israeli army before this incompetent minister brings them here. That's her job!"

Omar understood this lack of action as one part of a broader policy of participation in Israel's genocide of Palestinians. He referenced government-approved arms shipments from Canadian companies to Israel and elite Canadian universities' investments in weapons manufacturers and occupation infrastructure. 

"This government have been sending weapons to kill my own people with my own tax money as a Canadian and every other Canadian. So there's complicity that goes beyond dehumanizing Palestinians, but actually profiting off of genocide. They are making money on genocide!"

Omar described his experience fighting the Liberals while his family members are killed and left in mortal danger:

"I've been begging for two years. I lost my job. I lost my savings. I'm losing family members. And this is why I am now here, not working, all because of Immigration Canada's complicity to the killing party."

Nariman testified to the similar conditions her family are in and why she'll keep pushing for their safe and swift evacuation.

"I lost my brother in October 2023, and he left behind his wife and child. His wife is injured. She needs medical care. His son is traumatized. He's malnourished. They are starving. I'm begging the government to bring them to safety so that I can take care of my nephew."