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OTTAWA — Immigration Minister Marc Miller said a motion passed by the Commons and criticized by Israel could make it more difficult to get Gazans fleeing the war into Canada.
Canada has had a program to allow Gazans seeking to leave the war to come on a temporary resident visa to Canada if they have family ties. The government introduced the program initially with a 1,000-person cap, but only 14 people have managed to take advantage of it because of restrictions on the Gaza-Egypt and Gaza-Israel borders.
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The NDP motion, which passed the House of Commons with Liberal support on Tuesday, called for an immediate ceasefire, an end of arms exports to Israel and an expansion of the temporary resident visa program. It also called for sanctions against “extremist” Israeli settlers who have seized land in the West Bank.
Miller said the motion might actually make things more difficult.
“The Israeli government has been quite clear in saying they are watching the actions of the Canadian government and any actions that are seen as to be unfavourable can affect their decision-making at the highest political level,” Miller said on Wednesday.
The motion, which is non-binding, was denounced by several Jewish groups in Canada. Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said Canada was taking a step that undermined his country’s right to self-defence.
“History will judge Canada’s current action harshly. Israel will continue to fight until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are returned home,” he said on X.
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Miller said Parliament took a principled stand, but Canada shouldn’t be naive about potential consequences.
“I’m not saying the motion was a bad thing to adopt. I think it represents a principled position of Canada,” he said. “But actions of the Government of Canada have consequences, and on the particular impact of that program, I don’t think that motion was necessarily a good thing.”
Miller said the program has had little success but said the Gaza border crossing are out of Canada’s control.
“This is a program that we knew from the get-go could be a failure. Up to now it is a failure, and it’s something I think we need to recognize.” he said.
The symbolic motion has also caused divisions within the Liberal caucus. Three Liberal MPs split with the party and voted against it.
Montreal Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said after the vote he is mulling his place in the party, confirming on Wednesday that he doesn’t have any updates on whether or not he is going to leave the caucus.
But he skipped his party’s caucus meeting Wednesday, which he typically attends in person. Several Liberal MPs said they had not reached out to him yet, but plan to do so.
National Post, with additional reporting by The Canadian Press
rtumilty@postmedia.com
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