Edmonton mother on hunger strike as husband remains stuck in Gaza
Three years after the Hamas attack on Israel ignited the war in Gaza, an Edmonton woman says bureaucratic delays have kept her husband trapped there despite an active Canadian visa application.
Why it matters
The case highlights how federal immigration and biometric requirements are keeping an Edmonton family separated amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Salomy Abusalim, who moved to Edmonton in 2018, says her husband Saed has been unable to leave Gaza since the war began three years ago, just days before he was due to complete biometric screening for Canadian permanent residency on Oct. 10, 2023. She says he was later approved to leave through Egypt in January 2024, but was turned away by Egyptian officials who demanded bribes.
Abusalim says Ottawa cannot issue Saed's visa until he completes biometric screening, which is not possible from within Gaza, and that Canada appears unable to help citizens or applicants exit through Israel the way some European countries have. She says the delay has affected hundreds of people in Gaza who have applied to come to Canada. The Canadian Press said it had not received comment from the federal Immigration Department.
Abusalim says her husband went three months without food during the war, and that her 10-year-old son, who has not seen his father in eight years, threatened a hunger strike out of frustration. Abusalim says she began her own hunger strike, consuming only water, and was on her fourth day as of Tuesday.
The story is part of wider reporting on Canadians with ties to the Middle East marking three years since the war began, including a Quebec mother whose son, an aid worker with World Central Kitchen, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in April 2024.
Compiled by the Alberta Daily Desk — an AI-written summary of reporting from the credited sources below, produced and reviewed under our editorial policy.