Evidence of meeting #120 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was students.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
I'm going to suspend until this is figured out.
I'm sorry to have interrupted you, MP Zahid. The floor is yours. You can start from wherever you were.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Thank you, Chair.
The first issue is getting out of Gaza. The second issue is that even people who got out of Gaza and are in Egypt have been having lots of challenges in getting all of their documentation to come to Canada.
We're hearing more and more stories. A few weeks ago, I was at one of the local mosques in my riding, where I heard that one of my constituents lost his father in a bomb blast. One week after that, he lost his brother, wife and three children. A day after that, he lost his youngest brother and his wife. These are the real stories of the people. This is what we have to hear every day.
As we have seen, the program we introduced in January of this year has not been as successful as we wanted it to be. There is a need to study what challenges have been happening and why we have not been able to get people out of Gaza. It is very important that we hear from families that have been trying to get their extended family out. We should also hear from some of the families that have been able to make it here so they can tell us what exactly the situation is like on the ground.
On Tuesday, HCI and Islamic Relief Canada organized a round table where they brought in some families. It happened at the Wellington Building in one of the committee rooms. There were two families that talked about the challenges they had to face to get out of Gaza.
One man talked about the challenges he had to face and the treatment they are getting compared to those who fled the war in Ukraine. People feel—and many families have been talking about it—that those who came from Ukraine had work permits and initial money to support them, whereas the people who came from Gaza or are coming have no support at all.
There are differences. I know, because of the war in Ukraine, that we were able to do biometrics in Ukraine. With Ukraine, we were able to get people out of other countries. They allowed Ukrainians to transit to a safe third country, like Canada. However, there is a feeling within the community that there is differential treatment for Palestinians when they compare the treatment they are getting with that of the people who came from Ukraine.
The situation in Gaza is beyond a tragedy. A genocide is happening there. There needs to be a ceasefire. Hostages and political prisoners must be released back to their loved ones, and humanitarian aid is badly needed. People are starving. Millions of people in Gaza have been displaced. The majority of the houses in Gaza are under rubble.
Have a look at the reports, like the one from Amnesty International, which just came out last week. They talk about the genocide happening in Gaza. One of my colleagues came back from Cairo and was telling me the stories he heard from the people of Gaza. So many kids have lost their legs and arms, and we really cannot imagine the mental health state they are going through.
As a mother, it has been very difficult for me watching on social media the pictures that have been coming. There are no schools. The hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed by the bombings of the Israeli government. These are war crimes. Every war has rules. Under the rules of law, civilians are protected everywhere, but this is not what we have seen in Gaza in the last many months, the last over 400 days.
I had the opportunity, along with one of my colleagues, MP Ali, in January to visit the West Bank in East Jerusalem. It was a 19-member delegation. We heard stories from the Palestinian people in the West Bank, and we saw the suffering the Palestinian people are going through there. We were not able to get to Gaza, but the suffering of the Palestinian people is beyond anyone's imagination.
In Gaza—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
MP Zahid, I'm sorry to disturb you again. I know it's a very emotional issue for you.
I have a long list of people to speak, so I would like to thank the witnesses for taking the stand. I will let you go. On behalf of committee members, I want to thank you.
MP Zahid, you have the floor. Please go ahead.
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Mr. Chair, I have a point of order, just for clarification. Could you clarify whether the witnesses being released from the second panel will be invited back at another time?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
That's up to committee members. Committee members make that decision, and we'll figure that out. I don't want to interrupt MP Zahid time and time again, unless you want to do that now.
MP Zahid, if you don't mind, can I please take a moment to do that?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
MP Kwan wants the witnesses to come back. Is it the will of the committee to do that?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
MP Kwan, we're good with that. Thank you.
MP Zahid, please go ahead.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Thank you, Chair.
The situation in Gaza is beyond tragic. There is a genocide happening there. People are dying by the bombing being done day and night. People are starving. Schools are being used as shelters. No kids are learning. As a mother, that hurts me. It breaks my heart. I cannot sleep at night thinking about what's happening to the children in Gaza.
The number of children who have been killed in Gaza is more than in any other conflict we have seen in the world in the last many decades. Women and children are just trying to survive—to get food, water and the basic necessities of life, which every human being deserves and which we take for granted. Everyone has a right to live and everyone should be treated equally.
Just last month, on November 29, it was the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. This is its second year. Both last year, on November 29, 2023, and this year, Palestinians and the people living in Gaza have been under a war, under a genocide. Thousands and thousands of people have died.
There is work UNRWA is trying to do through schools, but they have not been able to do it because no school is in existence. Instead, schools are being used as shelters to provide a place for people to lie down.
I think all members of this committee are honourable and would agree with me that.... How do we feel about the books in those schools being used for fuel to cook food? No one wants that to happen. Those books are for allowing our next generations to learn. Instead, in Gaza, books are being used to cook food for families because they have no other way to do that.
These are basic human rights that we in Canada and people around the world take for granted, and we cherish them. We have to make sure that Palestinians also have those rights. They deserve the same rights.
I can't even imagine life in Gaza, but I saw what was in West Bank and what was in Jordan, and I talked with family members. I visited one of the schools in Amman, Jordan, and the kids there, a very intellectual group of students, were representatives in what was called a “model parliament”. We talked with them, and one of the children questioned us: “Why do you teach us about human rights when we have no human rights?” It was very heartbreaking to hear a 12- or 13-year-old say that, because they have seen the killing of their family members and have seen that past generations had to leave their homeland and live in tents and camps.
For generation after generation, the people who have been displaced, starting from 1948 and 1967, have been living in camps, some in the West Bank. I went to Hebron and Bethlehem when I visited and saw the miseries. I heard the stories. People go to sleep at night thinking in their minds that they never know what's going to happen at night—how many times their houses and windows will be bombed.
As I saw myself, along with MP Ali, at Aida refugee camp, there were houses with gunshots. As soon as it started getting dark, the local people were telling us, “You should get out of this place because you never know when a bombing is going to happen.” This is the everyday life of the people.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
MP Zahid, I'm sorry. We're past the clock.
We are suspended until next time.
[The meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m., Monday, January 6, 2025. See Minutes of Proceedings]