London, Ont. woman pleads with federal government to help reunite her family
Londoner Ola Dahman, who left war-torn Gaza over two years ago, is pleading with the Canadian government to help reunite her family here in Canada.
Twenty-three-month-old Layan has never met her father or two brothers in person. They are in Gaza, and she lives with her mother Ola Dahman in London.
“You feel that you are walking, talking, but you are disconnected from the surrounding, because you always think about your sons, when will you see them,” says Dahman.
Dahman came to Canada on a visitor visa back in May of 2019, she was five months pregnant at the time, and decided that it was too risky to go back home to Gaza.
“It was not easy, it was tough, I spent all five months, until I gave her birth, crying. Every day every night and even at night when I went to sleep I always imagine that I was hugging my youngest son.”
The mother of three received refugee status in October 2020.
She is one of a dozen Convention refugees from Palestinian who are in Canada, and have put in a permanent residency application for their loved ones to be brought over from Gaza.
Ola Dahman is seen with her husband and two sons in 2015, four years before she fled Gaza. (Source: Ola Dahman)
Ola Dahman is seen with her husband and two sons in 2015, four years before she fled Gaza. (Source: Ola Dahman)
“The current processing time for most permanent resident application is 39 months. Folks like OIa have been here anywhere from two to four years already. So the pain of family separation, which can be anywhere from three to six years now, is incalculable, indescribable,” says Matthew Behrens of the Rural Refugee Rights Network.
Behrens has been lobbying the federal government to expedite Dahman’s application.
“What we’re calling on Immigration Canada to do is to issue a temporary resident permit that would allow the family to come over to Canada where they can be safe, they can reunite, and they can start on the path to healing, while their permanent residency application is being processed."
Behrens says the violence in Gaza is ongoing, and fears the family is running out of time.
“If they’re left in Gaza for another month, two or three months, while they are processing their applications for temporary residents permits, God forbid that someone is killed, when they could have been safely here during that processing.”
Dahman has a master's degree in computer engineering and is currently enrolled in Fanshawe College's Software and Information Systems Testing program.
She hopes to finish school and start working in time to support her family if and when they are able to come to Canada.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine
Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
On federal budget, Macklem says 'fiscal track has not changed significantly'
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canada's fiscal position has 'not changed significantly' following the release of the federal government's budget.