A Canadian citizen trapped in Gaza is begging for help as Ottawa announces new measures to help family members of Canadians flee the war zone.
Mahmoud Kouta of London, Ont. told CBC News he’s been trapped in Gaza since the current Israel-Hamas war broke out.
The air and ground war was launched in response to Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians. According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, the war has killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians and displaced roughly 1.9 million people, and has demolished much of northern Gaza.
Kouta said he was living in northern Gaza and fled south to Rafah with his wife and 18-month old daughter after his house was bombed.
Israeli officials ordered evacuating Palestinian civilians to head for Rafah and a handful of other towns, but the area has been bombarded regularly by Israeli forces.
“Nowhere is safe,” Kouta said.
“When I go to find water, when I go to find food, I tell my wife goodbye. I kiss my daughter and I hope it’s not the last kiss that I give to her.
“I can’t explain to you how we feel when we hear the sound of bombing. All we can do is try to calm down our young ones.”
Palestinians flee after strike in Rafah
People were rushed to overburdened health centres on Wednesday after a strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Hundreds of Canadians and permanent residents were able to escape Gaza through the Rafah crossing at the Egyptian border last month. Foreign nationals were able to leave Gaza under an apparent agreement between the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, but the evacuations have since slowed.
Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced temporary measures on Thursday that could allow extended family members of Canadian citizens or permanent residents to flee Gaza.
The government will grant temporary residency to extended family members — including spouses, common law partners, children, grandchildren, siblings, parents or grandparents — who want to leave Gaza, Miller told reporters.
“We’ve had limited ability to get Canadians and permanent residents out, but we have limited it to closer family unit definitions,” he said.
“This expands the definition and allows us a greater set of people that may not be permanent residents or Canadians, but for all intents and purposes represent the family of people that are close to Canadians.”
Ottawa expands family reunification list in Gaza, but minister says there are no guarantees
Immigration Minister Marc Miller says Canada will ‘put the effort’ into getting extended family members of Canadian citizens or permanent residents out of Gaza, but the list of people looking to depart will have to be approved by Israel and Egypt.
Miller said the current humanitarian crisis has made Gaza “unlivable.” He added that the government doesn’t have “any assurances” that those family members on Canada’s list will be able to leave Gaza. He noted that there is an extensive vetting process on the ground.
“We have a cohesive list of people and motivations for them to come out based on this family definition that’s now expanded,” he said. “Whether they do or don’t get out will not be dependent on Canada, but we will put the effort in.”
Miller also announced that immediate family members of citizens or permanent residents who left Gaza or Israel after Oct. 7 and now reside in Canada will be allowed temporarily to apply for study or work permits.
Kouta said he attempted to cross into Egypt with his parents and younger siblings a few weeks ago. While some of his family members were allowed to leave, he was not. He said he has sought answers from Canadian officials but hasn’t been told why he and the rest of his family can’t leave.
“All I hope for is to leave with my wife and my daughter and the rest of my family here, safely back to Canada as soon as possible,” he said.
“At any moment I can die. At any moment I can lose my wife, I can lose my daughter.”
Israa Al Saafin, a community representative with the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), welcomed the new measures but said they’re coming too late for some.
Al Saafin’s brother was killed in Gaza. She said she now hopes the government’s new measures will mean her father, nephew and sister-in-law will be able to come home.
Israa Al Saafin, Community Representative at National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) delivers remarks in response to recently announced temporary visa measures for people living in Gaza with Canadian relatives at a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)
“The priority of me and my family here is to bring everybody to safety,” she told a press conference following Miller’s announcement.
Al Saafin said hundreds of Canadians have reached out to the NCCM with concerns about their families in Gaza.
“Our families are alive because of luck. If you’re lucky enough, the bombing is not beside you,” she said.
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan welcomed the government’s announcement but said it was “long overdue.”
“As more than two million people remain trapped under the devastating siege, many Canadians have been enduring daily distress that is beyond comprehension,” she said in a media statement.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked earlier in the day why the government didn’t act sooner.
“It’s an extremely difficult situation and we have been working very, very hard to get Canadian citizens and their families out of Gaza,” he said.
Trudeau said the government is pushing forward with more measures. He also said there needs to be a longer-term focus on a two-state solution.
“What we need to do is ensure the viability of a Palestinian state alongside an Israeli state, living in peace, living in security into the future,” he said.
LONGUEUIL, Que. – People in a part of Longueuil, Que., were being asked to stay indoors with their doors and windows closed on Thursday morning after a train derailed, spilling an unknown quantity of hydrogen peroxide.
Police from the city just east of Montreal said it didn’t appear anyone was hurt, although a CN rail official told a news conference that three employees had been taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
The derailment happened at around 9 a.m. in the LeMoyne area, near the intersection of St-Louis and St-Georges streets. Mathieu Gaudreault, a spokesman for CN rail, said about eight cars derailed at the Southwark rail facility, including four that toppled over.
“As of this morning, the information we have is it’s hydrogen peroxide that was in the rail car and created the fumes we saw,” he said, adding that there was no risk of fire.
François Boucher, a spokesman for the Longueuil police department, said police were asking people in the area, including students at nearby schools, to stay indoors while experts ensure the air is safe to breathe.
“It is as a preventive measure that we encourage people to really avoid exposing themselves unnecessarily,” he told reporters near the scene.
Police and fire officials were on site, as well as CN railworkers, and a large security perimeter was erected.
Officers were asking people to avoid the sector, and the normally busy Highway 116 was closed in the area. The confinement notice includes everyone within 800 metres of the derailment, officials said, who added that it would be lifted once a team with expertise in dangerous materials has given the green light.
In addition to closing doors and windows, people in the area covered by the notice are asked to close heating, ventilation and air exchange systems, and to stay as far from windows as possible.
Gaudreault said it wasn’t yet clear what caused the derailment. The possibilities include a problem with the track, a problem with a manoeuvre, or a mechanical issue, he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s Liberal party is promising to improve cellphone service and invest in major highways if the party is elected to govern on Nov. 26.
Party leader Zach Churchill says a Liberal government would spend $60 million on building 87 new cellphone towers, which would be in addition to the $66 million the previous Progressive Conservative government committed to similar projects last year.
As well, Churchill confirmed the Liberals want to improve the province’s controlled access highways by adding exits along Highway 104 across the top of the mainland, and building a bypass along Highway 101 near Digby.
Churchill says the Liberals would add $40 million to the province’s $500 million capital budget for highways.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the three major political parties were expected to spend much of today preparing for a televised debate that will be broadcast tonight at 6 p.m. local time.
Churchill will face off against Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston and NDP Leader Claudia Chender during a 90-minute debate that will be carried live on CBC TV and streamed online.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
TORONTO – A group of hotel service workers in Toronto is set to hold a rally today outside the Fairmont Royal York to demand salary increases as hotel costs in the city skyrocket during Taylor Swift’s concerts.
Unite Here Local 75, the union representing 8,000 hospitality workers in the Greater Toronto Area, says Royal York employees have not seen a salary increase since 2021, and have been negotiating a new contract with the hotel since 2022.
The rally comes as the megastar begins her series of six sold-out concerts in Toronto, with the last show scheduled for Nov. 23.
During show weekends, some hotel rooms and short-term rentals in Toronto are priced up to 10 times more than other weekends, with some advertised for as much as $2,000 per night.
The union says hotel workers who will be serving Swifties during her Toronto stops are bargaining for raises to keep up with the rising cost of living.
The union represents hospitality workers including food service employees, room attendants and bell persons.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
