A immigration lawyer in Toronto states that new figures released by the federal government show how "slow" the government's efforts are to rescue individuals trapped in the ongoing war in Gaza, who are relatives of Canadian citizens.

The numbers obtained by the Canadian Press through a request for information indicate that Canadians have submitted 7,549 initial visa applications for relatives stranded in the Palestinian territory, since the launch of the specific program allowing this on January 9 until April 1.

Lawyer Debbie Rushlis, who represents dozens of applicants in this multi-stage process, says that many of these applications include entire families, with one sometimes comprising up to 10 people, who have connections to people in Canada and are trying to escape the war in Gaza.

Rushlis adds that the data is "shocking" and contradicts comments made by the federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller, before the program's launch, stating that the interest appeared "modest" and that the number of people who might benefit was estimated to be "in the hundreds."

She further notes that these 7,549 applications also show that the government's initial intention to cap the program at 1,000 visas could have excluded thousands of potentially eligible individuals.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship stated that only 179 visas had been issued as of April 29.

It is worth mentioning that Minister Miller said in March that Canada would allow more than 1,000 people trapped in Gaza, with extended family members in Canada, to benefit from the mentioned program, but he acknowledged that this step is merely "cold comfort."

The program provides temporary refuge in Canada for the "spouse of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident in Canada, or their civil partner, and their children and grandchildren, and siblings, and parents, and grandparents, in addition to their immediate family members."

Another immigration lawyer, Annie O'Dell, who works in St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador in far eastern Canada, states that Canada can do more to remove some of the excessive security requirements associated with these visas, allowing it to grant them to qualified individuals more quickly.

O'Dell believes the government should stop requiring applicants to travel to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, for the final screening, as individuals trying to cross the border into Egypt at Rafah can do so more easily if they have a Canadian visa.

O'Dell represents Canadian citizen Susan Karra Shuli, a Palestinian-born woman living in Ontario who applied in January for a visa for her brother and his daughter in Gaza.

O'Dell states that her client’s brother starved to death in the northern part of the war-torn Palestinian territory while waiting for the Canadian visa for himself and his 25-year-old daughter. The daughter is now left alone there, and neither of them has received the visa.

"I wonder how many applications have been submitted for people who are now deceased," O'Dell adds regretfully in a press interview, "I would like to say that the Canadian government bears some responsibility for the delays affecting these individuals who are no longer in this world."