Syrian-Canadians call on federal government to fast-track immigration applications for family in earthquake zone
The catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake that slammed southwestern Asia is adding to the misery of Syrian refugees who fled to Turkiye to escape civil war.
There are more than 3.5 million registered refugees in Turkiye, many of whom live along the border straddling Turkiye and Syria near the epicentre of Monday’s quake, which has decimated the region.
From her apartment in Mississauga, Ont., Syrian-Canadian Amal Shwikh constantly checks her phone for WhatsApp messages from her older sister Zahra. On Monday, the seven-storey building where Zahra lived with other refugees in Urfa, Turkiye, cracked then crumbled.
For the past few days, her 47 year-old sister has been taking shelter in a stranger’s car.
“(Zahra) is doing bad. Scared because (her) house going down and she don’t have nothing,†said Shwikh in an interview with CTV National News.
“It was very cold, with rain and snow and she slept in a car. Maybe she will move to a (refugee) camp,†she added, when asked about her sister’s living conditions.
Frustration with Canada’s immigration system is compounding Shwikh’s concerns. She applied to sponsor her sister under the family reunification category in 2021. Shwikh says Zahra had already completed her security and medical checks in July of last year and was waiting for Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to issue travel documents when the earthquake struck. Shwikh wants IRCC to issue the travel permits now, so her sister can get to Canada.
“I can pay the ticket for the flight… I just want (Zahra) to come here - to be safe.â€
UNKNOWN IF APPLICANTS WERE INJURED OR DIED
On Wednesday, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said that the government is discussing the possibility of fast-tracking permanent resident applications from both Syrians and Turks caught in the earthquake zone.
“This is a conversation that we’re having,†Fraser told reporters on his way into a caucus meeting. “We’re trying to understand what the impact is on the clients who are in the system.â€
In an email statement to Â鶹´«Ã½, IRCC says processing times have not been impacted by the earthquake. Â鶹´«Ã½ asked how many immigration applications were being processed through the Canadian Embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul, but IRCC was unable to provide that number.
Currently the only existing immigration pathways for those who qualify in the region are through family reunification and parent or grandparent super visa applications, IRCC said.
It’s possible those applicants may have been injured or even died in the earthquake zone.
SURVIVOR'S 'GUILT' IN CANADA
The promise to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015 was a key plank of the Liberal party’s platform in that year’s election and arguably helped them sweep to power.
At the time, photos of a two-year-old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi washed ashore alongside his older brother and their mother in Turkiye dominated headlines. The boy’s aunt, Tima Kurdi, who lives in B.C. that seeing the images “is not easy†but that “if it brings a positive effect and it’s going to help other peoples' lives, we are honoured.â€
In the more than seven years since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greeted the first planeload of families, IRCC says more than 80,000 Syrians have settled in Canada.
Manar Chabouq was granted asylum in 2018. After finding a home in Toronto she started volunteering with the , the team of rescuers dedicated to salvaging lives after bombings in northern Syria during the country’s civil war. The White Helmets are now picking through the remnants of a natural disaster searching for survivors. Since the disaster struck, Chabouq has spent many hours on WhatsApp trying to connect Syrian-Canadians with relatives in the quake zone.
Chabouq is pleading for the Canadian government not just to fast-track the processing of existing immigration applications, but to reduce the financial requirements so more Syrians can sponsor loved ones.
“There is war and now there is the violence of this earthquake. I appeal to the Canadian government to open the doors for sponsors,†said Chabouq as she choked back tears during a Zoom interview.
, sponsoring a family of four requires at least $28,700 of income support.
Chabouq says that amount is too high for refugees who need to rebuild their lives here before they can redirect funds to sponsoring relatives.
“We want to bring our family here - so you know your mom is safe, your brother is safe, your nephew is safe. How can we eat healthy food and have electricity and heat and know that our family is suffering?†asks Chabouq. “We have survivor’s guilt.â€
WILL CANADA ACCEPT CLIMATE REFUGEES?
Canada usually only accepts refugees fleeing conflict, but it has in the past provided a path for refugees fleeing natural disasters.
In 2010, the federal Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper accepted applications from Haitians impacted by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Thousands of permanent resident applications, temporary visas and emergency adoptions of orphaned children were processed
But Ottawa immigration lawyer Warren Creates is sceptical that will happen in the current political and economic climate. Creates says the 2010 measures were driven by a large and politically-connected group of Haitian-Canadians, concentrated mainly in Quebec. He doesn’t think Syrians can exert the same type of political pressure.
“It’s hard to provide an immigration solution to every disaster,†said Creates, who has been in practice for 35 years. He says it will also be difficult to fast track applications given the current backlog in the system that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Creates calls IRCC “overstretched†and says it doesn’t have enough staff to handle existing commitments.
He points out that training a visa officer to assess an application takes at least a year.
“If you add capacity for this particular humanitarian disaster, you need to take it from some other place. That’s not really fair to the others who are coming from Ukraine or Afghanistan,†said Creates.
IS THERE POLITICAL WILL TO HELP?
University of Ottawa immigration law professor Jamie Liew says bringing earthquake survivors from Turkiye and Syria to Canada through immigration measures will require “political will.â€
“When push comes to shove Canada is capable of shifting resources,†said Liew. She highlights the fact that in 2015, the government brought back retired visa officers to process claims. Liew says that staff can also be diverted from other departments and the application process can be streamlined to cut red tape.
And when it comes to helping new Syrians ravaged by the quake, Liew says the government can leverage the experience of past sponsorship groups who already know what it takes to settle refugees successfully.
â€The Canadian government can use this opportunity to reignite the resettlement infrastructure that's already there. People have the know-how of organizing teams of volunteers,†said Liew.
As for Shwikh, she already has the supports in place to help her sister Zahra start a life in Canada. Shwikh is a single mother with five children under the age of 11 years old. Her family was among the first wave of government-sponsored Syrian refugees who arrived in 2015.
Since then, Shwikh has learned English, found work as a dental assistant and become a Canadian citizen. She has also saved the required funds to support her sister for a year.
“Canada helped me. Now I can help her,†she said. All Shwikh needs now are travel documents for her sister - a way out of the quake zone only the federal government can provide.
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Air Canada union head says she'll resign if pilots reject deal
The head of the Air Canada pilots union says she'll step down if members opt not to approve a tentative deal with the airline, raising the stakes as aviators mull whether to accept hefty salary gains or drive an even harder bargain.
Toronto police say they are searching for a suspect who allegedly shot and killed his brother in an argument at a Scarborough housing complex late Saturday night.
2 suspended from U.S. college swim team after report of slur scratched onto student's body
At least two students at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania have been suspended from the swim team after a report that a racial slur was scratched onto a student's body, officials said.
John Mulaney and Olivia Munn have second child, a daughter named Mei
Comedian John Mulaney and actor Olivia Munn now have a second child, a daughter named Mei June Mulaney.
Kate, the Princess of Wales, makes first public appearance after cancer treatment
Kate, the Princess of Wales, made her first public appearance Sunday since she announced she had completed chemotherapy and would return to some public duties.
How does your health measure up? Criticism of long-time tool used to track progress
Body mass index, a long-time tool used to measure a person's health, may soon be out the door as some health professionals push for a system they say is more accurate.
An Edmonton man says he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was injured by members of the Edmonton Police Service last year.
North Carolina's Robinson, omitted from Trump rally, avoids comment on report about online posts
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson avoided directly weighing in during a gubernatorial campaign event Saturday on a CNN report outlining evidence that he made disturbing posts on a pornography website's message board more than a decade ago.
Netanyahu considering plan to force all Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza to besiege Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a plan to force all Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, in order to lay siege to Hamas and force the release of hostages.
Local Spotlight
Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.