Prime Minister,

The Gazan is not just a number in the news bulletins, nor a fleeting scene in war reports. The Gazan is a person who loves life — with a face, a name, and a heart that beats despite all the destruction and everything that is crushed around them.

He is the child who lost his school, the mother who sleeps while holding her children, fearing the brutal killing raids, the doctor who performs surgeries under the light of a mobile phone, and the elderly person who waited for the aid truck that never came, blocked by the occupation army.

It has been many months since this insane war began, and here we witness day by day the rising number of innocent victims, amidst a suffocating famine war, where there is a dire shortage of food and medicine, a complete collapse of infrastructure, and the forced internal displacement of crushed families, who have nothing but the key to their home and a photo on the wall.

The children, who know of childhood only the sounds of airplanes, explosions, killing, blood, and shattered dreams, go to sleep wondering if they will wake up in the morning and if there is still life left for them!

Their dreams have slept under the rubble, and their questions have grown too soon:

Why do we die?

Why does the milk not arrive?

Why is the crossing not opened?

Why does no one hear us?

Even the doctors, those who continue their humanitarian work under bombardment, are living the tragedy without mercy. They do not know if they will return to their homes to find their children alive, or if they will be shocked to see them as corpses under the rubble, or in the mortuary refrigerators, or lifeless in ambulances.

In Gaza, no one is safe — neither the doctors, nor the children, nor even the small dreams that have not yet been born.

With all this, the voices of the victims remain besieged, and the global conscience is drowning in cold calculations.

Prime Minister,

We are here appealing to you to look at this catastrophic situation with a positive, effective, and clear perspective — now, without delay.

We do not hold you responsible for this hell, but we hold you responsible for taking a stand that befits Canada, reflecting its principles that were founded on protecting human life, and defending human dignity and the right to safety and survival.

It is a stance that can change the course of events, even with a single humanitarian step, even with a loud voice saying to the world — as a continuation of your principled stance taken recently alongside France and Britain, which received great appreciation:

What is happening in Gaza is not just a political conflict — it is an ongoing massacre against international and humanitarian law, and it must stop.

It is time — in fact, it is overdue — for you to say clearly:

The Gazan is a human being who deserves life.

He deserves to eat, to learn, to survive, to dream — no, he must gain his freedom, and live the life he deserves, as every people born on their land deserves it, clinging to their dignity and identity.

Therefore, as the editor-in-chief of Arab Canada News, I direct this message to your living conscience, urging you to take urgent practical steps to facilitate the arrival of Gazan families stranded in Cairo — without exception, and without any bureaucratic complications — and to work diligently to save the remaining families in Gaza who have relatives in Canada, and grant them a space of humanitarian embrace that provides them safety, and gives them the ability to start a new life together, creating hope, and pulling them out of the whirlpool of despair, misery, pain, and suffering.

This is a step that carries meanings greater than just an administrative action — it is a message of hope, a confirmation that Canada's choices have always been on the side of humanity, and that your humanity is appreciated and will not disappoint us.

This initiative, if realized, will be a true cradle giving survivors the chance to start a new life, which every human soul deserves, as Canada believes through its continuous defense of the human right to life and dignity.

The complications faced by our people in procedures, from delays, ambiguity, and unjustified restrictions, only add to their wounds and pains. They do not need words of solidarity today, but a brave, wise, and effective decision.

And we trust that you are capable of making this decision — now, before it is too late.

Zuheir Al-Shaer

Editor-in-chief of Arab Canada News

Ottawa – May 2025