Minister @LenaMetlegeDiab โ our students are still waiting. The House deserves the truth.
๐ Call your MP: https://t.co/Q2TUyksMFl
๐ https://t.co/8GfTodHWBL | ๐ฉ [email protected]
More than 130 extraordinary Palestinian graduate students and researchers are ready to bring their world-class talents to Canadian academic institutions. Instead of being welcomed, they have been left waiting in impossible conditions for nearly two years.
Minister @LenaMetlegeDiab โ what these students are asking for is not extraordinary. It is a fair process.
๐ Call your MP: https://t.co/Q2TUyksMFl
๐ https://t.co/8GfTodHWBL | ๐ฉ [email protected]
Thank you @LCPal_ca for standing with Palestinian students and bringing your voice to Parliament Hill.
The Legal Centre for Palestine raised serious and well-founded concerns about the treatment of Palestinian students by the @CitImmCanada , concerns that go beyond delays.
This week, The Legal Centre for Palestine joined Palestinian Students and Scholars At Risk to advocate for scholars who have waited far too long for their student visas after being accepted to Canadian institutions. The Canadian government must process these applicants fairly and without delay.
Thank you @PSSAR for putting together an incredible day of advocacy on the hill.
We will keep challenging Anti-Palestinian Racism wherever it occurs.
As the LCP made clear, Graduate Palestinian students are seemingly being presumed guilty by virtue of being Palestinian. That is not a delay. That is Anti Palestinian Racism .
@LenaMetlegeDiab and @CitImmCanada , it is time to provide clear answers and implement biometric solutions so these students can begin their studies. ๐
Call your MP: https://t.co/Q2TUyksMFl
MP Jenny Kwan directly asked whether the IRCC would offer biometric alternatives for Palestinian students. Instead of answering, the Minister deflected entirely. For 7.5 minutes, direct inquiries about these students and the backlog were met with non-answers and subject changes.
130+ highly qualified Palestinian graduate students have waited two years for a study visa, with no decision and no timeline. These researchers have earned their placements and still want to bring their excellence to Canada.
This is an unprecedented level of support in this campaign. The professors and faculty associations who signed this joint letter represent across virtually every academic field.
To continue this pressure, call or email your local MP with the email template found on the PSSAR website. Alternatively, if you are a professor from a faculty association that has yet to endorse the campaign.
rofessor Terezia Zoric, President of the University of Toronto Faculty Association representing nearly 4,000 faculty members, spoke about this support at the PSSAR press conference this afternoon.
15 faculty associations representing thousands of professors, alongside 900 individual professors, have signed a joint letter calling on the federal government to expedite Palestinian student study visas.
Last week MP @JennyKwanBC questioned the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship - @LenaMetlegeDiab. One of the issues raised was demanding that the processing be expedited for 136 postgraduate Palestinian students from Gaza on full scholarships to 26 Canadian universities. In response, Minister Diab said that all these applications will be processed in the next 10 days. And we should all be watching closely to make sure the Minister follows through on this.
Follow @PSSAR and their campaign.