Palestinian mother allowed to bring daughter to Canada two weeks after death

Samar Elkhadour, a Palestinian woman who had been trying to get her daughter Jana out of Gaza, for the past several years. She finally got the call from Global Affairs Department of Canada allowing her daughter with special needs to immigrate to Canada, two weeks after her death. The news was featured in CBC Montreal News.

Jana was born with severe cerebral palsy and was living with Samar’s in-laws in Gaza. Samar was living in Canada and was trying to get her daughter to join her as she dealt with Jana’s immigration process. Jana died on January 8 – four days after her 13th birthday – in Gaza, due to malnutrition and lack of medicine and two weeks later, Samar got the green light from the Canadian government to bring her but it was too late.

Samar talked to host Debra Arbec in a show and spoke her heart out. She shared how she had hoped to give her daughter the comfort she deserved had she been allowed to move in with her family. She along with her husband and other children left Gaza back in 2017 as a refugee but the immigration bureaucracy in Canada did not help them at all. Back then, her daughter was relatively safe because the escalation was not spiking. However, after October 7, she decided to move her to a church because she thought she’d be safe there under international law. “What happened after that, the Church was surrounded by tanks and snipers and there were restrictions on the entry of food,” Samar related with teary eyes, “Jana could only have soft food and since it is a war, this is a privilege”. Her health deteriorated and because she was not given proper medication she passed away.

When the interviewer asked about the time she got to know about the green light to bring her daughter to Canada, Samar replied, “I laughed, because it’s ridiculous. It was a child’s life at stake.”

The two then went on to discuss the immigration process in Canada and Samar highlighted the double standards of the process especially with Palestinians. She stressed the immediate need of a ceasefire.