Academics, advocacy group urge Canada to act on Palestinian student visas

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - Professors and advocacy groups on Monday called on the Canadian government to immediately implement policy changes and prioritize the processing of visas for Palestinian students trapped in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking at a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, academics said dozens of high-achieving Gazan students admitted to Canadian universities are being denied their futures due to bureaucratic inaction.

Aaron Shafer, an assistant professor at Trent University, said he has supervised more than 20 graduate students, half of them international, but "none have encountered the visa obstacles faced by Palestinians."

He said delays over biometrics and border exits "make clear there is simply no political will," adding that "the reason for the inaction is that these students are Palestinian."

"These students are global leaders in research and education, and when given the chance, they will help Canadian research prosper, and they will return to Gaza to one day rebuild it," Shafer added.

Diana Allan, associate professor at McGill University, stressed that "we are talking about 70 brilliant young Palestinian scholars from Gaza" who earned spots and scholarships at Canada's top universities.

She said the delays amount to discriminatory policies, adding: "Delaying the processing of visas for these students and preventing them from coming to Canada are Jim Crow-like and target Palestinians as a group while masquerading as routine, bureaucratic and colorblind. These policies are discriminatory and inhumane."

"In tolerating these mechanisms of exclusion, we risk not only denying these scholars the opportunities they've earned through merit and hard work but also denying ourselves and our universities the promise that we risk seeing them killed, entangled in racist red tape. Bear blood on our hands," Allan noted.

Ahmad Al Qadi, advocacy officer at the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), noted that Gaza's infrastructure has been destroyed, making routine requirements impossible.

"To be admissible to leave Gaza and be approved for security screening, you have to have your biometrics completed. However, as mentioned, there are no biometric centers in Gaza," he said.

Nadia Abu-Zahra, associate professor at the University of Ottawa, underlined that "these are not asylum seekers. These are high-achieving students accepted on academic merit."

She urged Canada to "reverse biased visa policies, expedite security screening, create a biometric exemption, and arrange evacuation routes."

In response to an Anadolu question about accountability if more students die waiting in Gaza, Abu-Zahra said: "Canada is essentially issuing a death sentence to these people if they are not brought here.

"Two of them have been killed while waiting, and we cannot wait any longer," she added.