ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – 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.
The Canadian Press obtained a redacted letter sent to the applicant by a Canadian immigration officer, which asks if he has “ever provided medical care to injured Hamas members.” If he has not, the letter asks him to say how he was able to refuse “without consequences.”
Kelly O’Connor, an immigration lawyer in Toronto, said she gasped out loud when she saw the text. Any medical worker who denies care to someone hurt in a war zone is committing a “serious breach of the Geneva Convention,” she said in an interview.
No Gazans should be admitted to Canada.
