Medical worker fleeing Gaza asked by Canada if he treated Hamas fighters

Canadian immigration authorities have asked a medical worker attempting to leave Gaza whether he has cared for Hamas soldiers.People gather next to medical aid near Kamal Adwan Hospital, in the northern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, on April 6. Lawyers are questioning Canada's approach to screening visa applications for people in Gaza with extended family in Canada after one applicant, a medical worker, was asked whether he had treated members of Hamas.

"It's completely outrageous that the government would ask these kinds of questions because it's trying to promote that someone would violate the Geneva Conventions in wartime, which is really not something that the Canadian military stands for," O'Connor said. Applicants to Canada's special temporary visa program must complete several steps. First, a relative in Canada must submit a "statutory declaration" indicating the family members in Gaza for whom they are seeking visas, as well as voluminous details about each member, including a description of scars and markings on their bodies, and a list of all the jobs they have held since they were 16 years old.A new temporary pier built by the U.S.

More than 7,500 people submitted statutory declarations between Jan. 9 and April 1, according to data obtained through an access to information request. As of April 29, 179 people had been granted temporary visas.Canada has been unable to work with Egypt or Israel to get applicants across the border. Those who have been granted visas have made it across themselves, often by paying thousands of dollars to a private company.

The people who received these letters and brought them to lawyers were afraid to do it, Cohn said, because they worried they would be penalized by Canadian immigration officials. He wonders how many other people have received similar letters but haven't shown them to anyone out of fear. MacDonald declined to comment on why it asked a medical worker about whom they had treated, citing privacy reasons.

Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)

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