Lawyers are questioning Canada's approach to screening visa applications for people in Gaza with extended family in Canada after one applicant, a healthcare worker, was asked whether he had treated members of Hamas.

The Canadian press obtained a redacted letter sent by a Canadian immigration officer to the applicant, asking whether he had "provided medical care to injured members of Hamas", and if not, the letter requested he explain how he managed to refuse "without consequences".

Kelly O'Connor, an immigration lawyer in Toronto, said she gasped when she saw the text. She stated in an interview that any healthcare worker who refuses to treat someone injured in a war zone commits "a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions".

O’Connor added, "It is absolutely disgraceful for the government to ask this type of question as it is trying to promote the idea that someone is violating the Geneva Conventions in a time of war, which the Canadian military really does not support."

She also noted that visa applicants are already being asked "very troubling questions" in this process. "Then seeing this letter? It is truly shocking."

The Canadian visa program has faced setbacks and controversy since its launch on January 9, open to Canadian citizens and permanent residents hoping to bring their extended family members out of the Gaza Strip where the war between Israel and Hamas has claimed the lives of more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza.

The war began after Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel, most of whom were civilians, and kidnapped around 250 others on October 7, 2023.

Applicants for Canada’s special temporary visa program must complete several steps. First, a relative in Canada must submit a "Legal Declaration" indicating family members in Gaza applying for visas, along with extensive details for each individual, including descriptions of scars and marks on their bodies, and a list of all jobs held since they turned 16.

O'Connor said the questions "go beyond what is asked in a regular immigration application".

The declarations are reviewed by the Canadian Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Department, which then sends a unique code for each family member listed in the document. These family members use their specific code to submit a second set of paperwork for temporary visas. They must then somehow travel from Gaza to the Canadian immigration office in Cairo, Egypt, to complete the final screening process.

More than 7,500 people submitted legal declarations from January 9 to April 1, according to data obtained through a freedom of information request. As of April 29, 179 people had been granted temporary visas.

Canada has been unable to work with Egypt or Israel to transfer applicants across the border. Those who received entry visas managed to do so on their own, often by paying thousands of dollars to a private company.

O'Connor represents three Canadians who submitted declarations regarding a total of 16 family members in Gaza, although one of them—a child—has since passed away. She said they are all still waiting for the necessary codes to move on to the second phase of the process.

The letter sent to the healthcare worker, whose name has been withheld due to fear of repercussions, was printed on Canadian embassy letterhead in Amman, Jordan, and is attributed to an unnamed immigration officer in the Canadian immigration, refugees and citizenship department. Before inquiring about the care provided to Hamas fighters, questions were posed regarding the applicant's work history at two hospitals in Gaza.

Randall Cohen, a Vancouver-based immigration lawyer, stated that the questions in the letter are "clearly illegal and absolutely heinous". He mentioned in an interview that he has seen two such letters asking about medical treatment of Hamas members—sent to a doctor and a nurse—and is aware of two other letters.

Cohen remarked that individuals who received these letters and showed them to lawyers were scared to do so because they were worried about facing penalties from Canadian immigration officials. He wonders how many other people received similar letters but did not show them to anyone out of fear.

Cohen expressed hope that the questions were a mistake made by an "overzealous" visa officer and that the letters have since been corrected. He added that in any case, "Canadians need to know that the immigration system operates in a centralized and chaotic way that allows for this kind of discriminatory treatment, which often goes unchecked and unpunished."

The federal immigration department stated that its minister, Marc Miller, was unavailable for an interview. In an emailed statement, spokesperson Jeffrey MacDonald said additional questions may be posed to visa applicants regarding their employment, travel history, and online presence, as part of the screening process in Canada.

MacDonald declined to comment on why medical workers were asked about whom they treated, citing privacy concerns.

Lorne Waldman, a Toronto-based lawyer who authored a widely-used textbook on Canadian immigration law, pointed out that Canada lists Hamas as a terrorist organization and is entitled to screen visa applicants for potential security threats.

Waldman said in an interview, "But this kind of questioning is completely unacceptable. If there is a shootout in Toronto between members of a gang, the doctor would not stop to ask whether the person is a gang member before treating them."

He added that Canada also cannot ask such questions of a visa applicant solely for intelligence-gathering purposes.

Richard Kurland of "Lawyers for Safe Immigration," a group that urges the government to ask specific questions related to Hamas and terrorist activities, stated that he rejects the question for two reasons. First, because it targets Hamas only and not other terrorist groups operating in Gaza, and second, because it is "problematic," he wrote in an email.

He added, "Even murderous terrorists deserve medical treatment."