Global Affairs Canada says none of the 266 Canadians on Friday’s list of foreign nationals approved to leave the Gaza Strip were able to get out.
“The Rafah border crossing was closed today,” the department wrote in a Friday afternoon statement. “No foreign nationals crossed.”
Early Friday, 266 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their family members appeared on the daily list of foreigners approved to exit for Egypt through the Rafah border crossing. That list is posted by Palestinian authorities and co-ordinated with the Egyptian and Israeli governments.
“Canadians who were at the border today for crossing were contacted, and we are hopeful the border will reopen soon to allow them to cross,” the department wrote.
Amro Abumiddain, a Canadian citizen who already left Gaza this week, said his relatives waited all day in the hopes of reaching safety.
“They were told (Thursday) that they should be heading to the border today, because their name appeared on the list and they went in the morning,” Abumiddain told The Canadian Press from Cairo on Friday.
“They spent the whole day waiting and then at the end of the day, they told them, ‘Just go home because they’re not going to let anyone in.'”
A total of 107 people with connections to Canada crossed on Tuesday and Thursday, though the crossing was closed Wednesday because of what a U.S. State Department spokesperson described as a “security circumstance.”
Some of those Canadians have since reached Canada, while others remain in Cairo; Egypt allows foreigners to stay 72 hours in the country.
Global Affairs says it’s aware of 550 Canadians, permanent residents, and family members who are currently trying to leave Gaza, including those who were supposed to cross Friday.
Meanwhile, the department is hinting at the possibility of Canadians being among those captured by Hamas in the brazen Oct. 7 attack in Israel.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Thursday that Canada’s top official for consular cases was in the Middle East to try help securing the release of hostages being held by Hamas.
That role is to “engage with government representatives and others to seek the release of Canadian hostages abroad, including in the Middle East,” the department said.
Joly has long refused to say whether Canadians were among the hostages, an effort to avoid complicating the overall rescue effort. Ottawa refers only to “two Canadians who are missing” in the region, citing privacy considerations.
Foreign nationals in the territory are trying to flee a worsening humanitarian situation and constant Israeli airstrikes. The bombardment is in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas militants, who killed 1,400 Israelis and kidnapped 239 people.
Abumiddain, 45, left Gaza after a fifth attempt on Wednesday with his wife and three children in tow, as part of an American group since their children are U.S. citizens.
He described the last month has been the worst of his life, calling it a “nightmare.” Abumiddain was living near the centre of the territory, while his wife and children were in Rafah, near the Egyptian border.
He only reunited with them when leaving the country, and crossing the border took 13 hours.
The family farm is about 900 metres from the Israeli border, and he was helping his dad out when the war began. He described the bombing in the area as intense.
“I was just telling my wife I’m surprised I’m here, because every day there, you feel like it’s the last day,” Abumiddain said. “I never thought I would see things like that in my real life.”
The family hopes to reunite in Egypt in the coming days. If they can, Abumiddain hopes to return to Mississauga, where he lived previously.
While his mother had gone to Ontario to visit his sister three weeks before the Israel-Hamas war broke out, his father has remained behind in Gaza.
The images of airstrikes in Gaza have already fuelled a number of tense protests in Canada, and Trudeau said Friday he’s concerned about Jews and Muslims being targeted.
He didn’t cite any specific examples, but Montreal police have said two Jewish schools were hit by gunshots, while a series of brawls at Concordia University led to three people being injured and one arrested.
“What’s happening in the Middle East right now is causing a lot of devastating emotions — fear, anger, grief — on all sorts of different communities, but particularly both the Muslim and the Jewish communities across Canada,” he said.
“We all need to be extremely concerned about the rise in tensions, the rise in threats of violence, the rise in actual acts of violence and the rise in hatred.”
In recent years, Muslims have shown up to support Jewish people after attacks at synagogues, and Jewish people have done the same after violence occurred at mosques, Trudeau noted.
“Canadians stand up for each other. We hear each other’s pain and grief and support each other.”
The White House announced Thursday that Israel agreed to put in place a daily four-hour “humanitarian pause” on its airstrikes in Gaza. Canadian officials said they hope the breaks in fighting will allow more departures of foreign nationals, the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid and the negotiation of an eventual end to the month-old war.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the promise of daily pauses came after he called on Israel to withhold bombardment for three or more days in the hopes that Hamas would release hostages, though he said there was “no possibility” of a ceasefire.
The Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory has said the bombardment has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians. Another 2,650 people have been reported missing.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “far too many” Palestinians have died and that Israel is not doing enough to avoid civilian casualties.
American officials have said the recent resumption of some water supplies and food shipments has yet to meet a huge demand for essentials.
Separately, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk called on Friday for an investigation into what he called Israel’s “indiscriminate bombardment and shelling” in densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2023.
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
