Nearly four months after the opening of a Canadian program offering 1,000 temporary visas to Palestinians from Gaza, none have yet set foot on Canadian soil. For Haya Elsayyed, who would like to welcome her parents and two brothers to Quebec, the wait is endless.
“I just want them to be there with me.” » In a small café in Sherbrooke, the young 25-year-old Palestinian woman chatters and becomes animated. A pink veil covering her head, she sips a latte, wrapped in a comfortable hoodie sewn with teddy bears which contrasts with the horrors she evokes.
“On the morning of October 7, I was in Gaza. I woke up at 5 a.m. and planned to go for a sunrise walk at the beach with my cousin, who first had to get her twins ready for school. My mother was also preparing to go teaching, my brothers were going to university. My father stayed at home,” she says. “At 6:20 a.m., everything has…” she added, without finishing her sentence which was drowned in her milk foam.
She didn’t see her cousin that morning, too busy fleeing the attacks. And she won’t see her again. Two weeks after their missed meeting, her cousin, her husband and their children died in the bombing of their house. “His body was not buried. She’s still somewhere down there,” Haya whispered. “For me, she is alive. I feel like one day I’m going to go back to the beach and take that walk with her. »
From town to town, Haya and her family fled the violence, taking refuge with grandparents, uncles or even in the family home. The last time, in mid-November, they left under pressure from the army, at gunpoint. “We were asked for our ID cards, they kidnapped people, made them undress in front of everyone. I won’t go into all the terrible details,” she assured. “But two days later, they burned the neighborhood. »
As this biotechnology graduate had already lived in Montreal and obtained permanent residence, her name was on the list of Canadian nationals who could cross the border to Egypt. What she did at the beginning of December. “It was very difficult. I left Gaza with my phone, my charger, some maps, my Koran and the shirt and pants I was wearing. That’s all. »
A program full of hope
On January 9, the Canadian government established a pathway to grant 1,000 temporary visas to Gazans. With the help of Geneviève Nadeau, a Sherbrooke resident married to a Palestinian, Haya Elsayyed worked tirelessly to put together the case of the four members of her immediate family, which she ended up submitting to the portal the second the program was released. open. “We then had to give us a code so that we could apply it to the 2e stage, but we had no news. »
Two weeks after the launch, the quota of 1000 had almost been reached. The most recent data still indicates that 986 applicants received “a unique reference code”, which allows them to progress to 2e step and submit a three-year temporary resident visa (TRV) application in the Immigration Canada portal.
However, as it is impossible to collect biometric data from Gaza, candidates must successfully flee to a third country to be able to finalize their file. Canada says it has no control over this, and so far only 153 Gazans have managed to leave on their own and have been able to complete their application.
At the beginning of March, the Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, committed to raising the ceiling of 1,000 Palestinians. His ministry confirmed to Duty that it “increases the number of unique reference codes issued”, but without saying how many.
Since arriving in Sherbrooke this winter, Haya has moved heaven and earth. In just a few days, she managed to meet with MPs and numerous media outlets. “I promised myself I would tell everyone about what was happening. »
On March 26, by their own means, his parents and brothers were able to leave for Egypt at a high price, through an agency, but also thanks to their friends who mobilized to help them. It was at this moment that the family received the famous “code”.
Haya’s father is a French-language inspector in the Gaza Strip for the Ministry of Education. His mother, a college English professor. His two brothers speak French and English: one has an engineering degree, the other has started medical studies. For Haya Elsayyed, it is obvious that her family has a lot to bring to Quebec. “My parents are not retired. They want to work. »
Safe, but worried
Although Haya is now safe, her life is not without torment. On TV, on social networks, he continues to rain bombs on his people. She sometimes feels guilty for looking away to focus on her life here. “At first I felt like I was betraying my parents,” she says. “I didn’t dare show them that I could drink coffee, because they couldn’t. But now I tell them everything. »
His house, his room, the sea… he misses everything. “One day I’m going to go back to my house and hug him,” she said. “We had fish, birds. We evacuated them at the same time as us, but they flew away. » And with them, the hope of returning to the life before.
While waiting to redeploy her own wings, Haya is reconnecting with the French that her father had taught her and hopes to be able to start francizing soon. She is actively looking for a job and making friends. Of all types. “I go running around the lake and I’ve become friends with the dogs, the birds here and the ducks,” she says with a laugh.
Does she think she will see her family again soon? “I can’t say no, but I can’t be 100% sure. I’m working on this very hard. »
In spring, it’s the order of things: the birds always come back.