Canada asks health workers in Gaza if they treated Hamas members

“Have you treated Hamas members [at Al-Shifa Hospital]? ” This is one of the additional questions asked to a health professional from Gaza in an application for a temporary visa in Canada, La Converse has learned.

“It's very troubling,” says Randall Cohn, a Vancouver lawyer, right away, told me by phone. It is an extremely unusual question. I have never seen anything like it.”

“It's very alarming,” exclaims immigration lawyer Debby Rachlis, based in Toronto. She feels that she has never seen such a question asked to a health worker in a visa application.

In a letter that La Converse was able to see, a Canadian Immigration officer based in Amman, Jordan, requested additional information to obtain a temporary visa for Gazans. In four specific questions about the person's employment (unidentified for security reasons), Immigration Canada asks her about her work history at Al-Shifa Hospital, whether she has ever treated Hamas members and, if not, how she was able to manage not to care for Hamas members without suffering reprisals.

There were at least two cases where such questions were asked in a similar context, according to lawyers interviewed. The two confirmed cases, including the one La Converse was able to learn about, concern two different hospitals, including that of Al-Shifa.

“I don't understand where Immigration Canada officials want to get at with these questions,” asks Mr.^E Rachlis.

For M^E Cohn, who gave his opinion to the family of the health worker who is the subject of this letter, answering questions honestly is the best solution.

“This raises some concerns about whether a person can be excluded due to fortuitous contact [with a Hamas member]. And that's if we put aside the issue of medical ethics and the responsibility under international humanitarian law for medical care providers to provide care without discrimination,” the lawyer hastens to add.

Al-Shifa Hospital has been in the news for several weeks. The Israeli Defense Army (IDF) besieged the hospital in Gaza City in March. She claimed to be looking for commanders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. On 18 March, the IDF bombed the hospital. After two weeks of siege, she withdrew, leaving behind a completely destroyed hospital and numerous deaths and injuries.

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Contrary to international law

Caring for all patients, regardless of their origin and status, is a requirement of the medical profession. “It is forbidden to punish medical personnel for carrying out medical acts in accordance with ethical standards or to force them to perform acts contrary to medical ethics”, according to international humanitarian law.

“I think these are racist questions,” says Mr.^E Cohn, who can't explain anything other than asking a nurse if he treated Hamas members. Canada listed Hamas as a terrorist entity in November 2002.

“I've never seen anything like it, where it seems that the implications are that someone could be in some way unacceptable if he or she treated a Hamas member,” he added.^E Rachlis.

“These questions don't seem to imply that the person is a member of Hamas. It is being sought to know whether this person who worked in hospitals or medical institutions in Gaza was able, in the exercise of his duties, to treat Hamas members, including fighters. I think there is a big difference between these two things, namely treating activists and being a member of Hamas.”

Questions about involvement in war crimes are not uncommon in visa applications. On the other hand, what shocks the people consulted here is that they are referred to health professionals and focus directly on their practice.

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Reactions

The infectious disease doctor and former spokesperson and deputy of Quebec Solidaire Amir Khadir exclaims, after reading the document, that “it is absolutely revolting to see that immigration agents ask these kinds of questions.”

The man who was head of mission for Médecins du Monde three times in the early 2000s believes that these types of questions mean that the person asking them does not understand the nature of medical work.

“Ask “Did you call anyone Hamas?” , in itself, that is completely irrelevant because why are the agents who deal with refugees interested in this? he exclaims. This question denies the code of ethics of any health professional.”

He recalls that health personnel have a duty to care for everyone, even the worst of criminals.

Mr. Khadir also believes that the question asking the health worker whether he would have succeeded in not treating a Hamas member is worse. “This question implies that he should have refused to treat this Hamas member, which is contrary to the code of ethics of any health personnel.”

For its part, the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) was not aware of questions asked to health workers in connection with requests for emergency temporary visas to bring the immediate family of Palestinians from Gaza to Canada.

The organization's co-director general, Lauren Langlais, recalls that the CCR criticized the “invasiveness” of the questions asked to Gazans. The program has already been criticized by several people since its official launch, in particular because of the limit of 1,000 Gazans allowed to come to the country.

As for whether the health worker concerned treated a Hamas member or not, the co-director is very perplexed.

“We would be shocked if such a question were asked. Every injured person has the right to medical care, and health professionals have an obligation to care for them,” she said.

“In my experience, I have not seen similar questions asked of refugees from other regions,” she says. These questions about health professionals go way beyond boundaries and are completely inappropriate.”

A lone wolf?

As questions about the nature of the Gazan's hospital work that we will not identify come from an Immigration Canada officer based in Amman, Jordan, it may not be an official practice, suggests the Vancouver immigration lawyer.

“These offices generally operate with a certain degree of autonomy. The various offices are responsible for becoming aware of the particular concerns, types of security threats, fraudulent requests, etc. that are most likely to come from people in this region,” explains M.^E Cohn.

They then develop their own protocols to try to counter them. Each office acts in a way independently and asks its own questions, continues the Vancouver lawyer.

M^E Cohn is hopeful that with these revelations, clear instructions will be sent to all IRCC international offices.

“What I really hope, in this situation, is that it was obvious and that by shedding light on the situation and making it clear that it is not legal and that it is not justifiable under Canadian law or international humanitarian law, they will get the message and that we will not see these kinds of questions again in the future,” he said.

Asked to respond to questions asked to health professionals about possible care provided to Hamas members, the Canadian Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) responded as follows: “There have been no recent changes to the application forms or to the questions asked of applicants.”

“This is a common practice in crisis situations where IRCC is not present in the field to carry out the initial check and collection of biometric data”, says the IRCC spokesperson.

La Converse also contacted Amir Khadir, a doctor and former deputy, to get his opinion. Mr. Khadir believes that the Canadian department should immediately adjust the situation.

“When I read these questions, I asked myself, 'But where are we? Who are these people?” One cannot help but see traces of the behavior of regimes that are in violation of the law in every respect, as is the case with Israel right now, or with the theocratic regime in Iran or with North Korea, but that cannot be compatible with Canadian codes of ethics or respect for international law.”

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