Canada to accept 1,000 applications from Canadians' relatives seeking way out of Gaza
CTV
The National Council of Canadian Muslims is calling on the federal government to remove a cap on the number of Palestinians who can seek refuge with their Canadian extended family members from the violence in the Gaza Strip.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims is calling on the federal government to remove a cap on the number of Palestinians who can seek refuge with their Canadian extended family members from the violence in the Gaza Strip.
The special extended family program for people in Gaza is set to launch next week, after Palestinian Canadians pleaded for months to get help from the government to rescue their loved ones as the Israel-Hamas war continues.
The program would offer visas to a maximum of 1,000 Palestinians, which would allow them to take refuge in Canada for three years if their families are willing to financially support them during that time.
When Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced the plan last month, he said it wasn't clear how many people would benefit, but that it would likely be "in the hundreds."
A week later, the department released the written policy for the program.
It shows that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will close the program to new requests after it receives and begins processing the first 1,000 applications, or after a year has elapsed.
The council of Canadian Muslims, a national advocacy group, says it has already been in contact with more than a thousand people who have reached out about getting their families out of Gaza.
