Self-identified Gazan-Canadians are organizing countrywide encampment-style protests outside immigration offices and Parliament Hill. They are demanding that Ottawa accept family members of Palestinians already living in Canada.
A group called the “Gazan Canadians League” are attempting to organize nationwide “sit-in” protests outside the federal legislature and federally run Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada buildings on July 15, 2025, a day before Parliament is set to fully return from the break.
“Stand With Gazan Canadians, We have exhausted every door. Now, we ask you, grassroots movements, organizations, and caring people, to stand with us,” the group shared in a post on Instagram. “We still stay until Canada reunites our families and fulfills its promise.”
While immigrants and refugees are not guaranteed that their entire families can join them in Canada, there are formal “pathways” and processes they can pursue to petition the government for family reunification.
The Gazan-Canadian group has over 3,500 followers on Instagram and describes itself in another post as Palestinians living in Canada who advocate for the reunification of their families in Gaza.
The group argues that the visa program announced by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take in Gaza refugees has been racist, discriminatory, and an overly complex process. The Gazan Canadians have exhausted all other avenues for family reunification criticizing Canada for its “lack of real urgency and action” on the matter.
Some of the group’s posts, including a
post saying the delay is “institutional racism,” were liked by anti-Israel groups such as Palestinian Youth Movement Toronto, Independent Jewish Voices Toronto, York Region BDS and IJV UofT and union groups such as Labour4Palestine Winnipeg.
In one
post, the Gazan Canadian League say the process relies on vetting Palestinians with documents which are not available due to Israeli bombing and destruction, and that the process is delayed because Canadian officials have “capitulated to racists” both inside and outside of the government.
As reported by
True North, in May last year, immigration lawyer Sergio Karas warned against bringing refugees from Gaza because of the near impossibility of vetting them, and widespread support for terrorism and antisemitic views of people of the region.
Jewish advocacy groups similarly raised concerns over the admission of individuals from Gaza, as background checks are challenging to conduct from a country of origin governed by a terrorist organization.
“The admission of individuals from Gaza raises serious security concerns because it is impossible to screen them to ensure that they have no ties to Hamas or other terrorist organizations,” Karas told True North on Wednesday.
”This is particularly true because, according to polls, a large percentage of Gains still support Hamas. Canada does not have sufficient resources to screen those individuals, a task that is difficult even under the best of circumstances.”
He said 500 Gazans have already been admitted under the Gaza Family Reunification program, which has a five-thousand quota, but that “no promises are made” that everyone requested would be admissible.
“It was entirely predictable that Gazans and their allies would agitate for more admissions.
However, the first and most important task of any government is to protect the safety and security of Canadians,” Karas said. “Admitting a large number of Gazans without thorough vetting may fuel antisemitism, which is already at an all-time high.”
According to Karas, the Gaza program was “ill-conceived” and served only to “curry favour” with a specific segment of the population in advance of an election. He said it should immediately be discontinued as it is “unworkable, costly and unsafe.”
“It would be preferable that Canada persuades the Arab countries in the region, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to take on Gazans, since they have so far refused to do so,” Karas added.
“Encampments are an abuse of freedom of expression and, based on the university experience, they turn into an antisemitic propaganda fest and should be dismantled as soon as they are set up. Police should enforce the law and prevent this sad spectacle from taking place.”
truenorthwire.com
