Letter to Minister Anand and Secretary of State Sarai regarding Canadian medical personnel blocked from entering Gaza

Hon. Anita Anand
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Hon. Randeep Sarai
Secretary of State for International Development

Re: URGENT – Canadian medical personnel blocked from entering Gaza

Dear Minister Anand and Secretary of State Sarai,

I’m writing to you today with urgency to flag an ongoing issue that Canadian medical teams traveling to Gaza are experiencing: delegates, and sometimes entire delegations, are being completely blocked by Israel from entering Gaza, with no apparent reason. These teams are Emergency Medical Teams under the World Health Organization’s initiative in Gaza.

They are Canadian medical professionals who practice in Canada and in humanitarian crises. As a major donor to the WHO, Canada has the responsibility to ensure WHO initiatives are not blocked by any other member state.

One affected organization is GLIA, a medical solidarity organization with extensive experience in Gaza. Its personnel have been repeatedly denied access by Israel – and only after flying to Amman to wait until several hours before scheduled departure for Gaza.

I wrote to your predecessors, Minister Joly and Minister Hussen, in October 2024 about Israel’s ban on Glia and six other medical relief organizations (see attached). At the time, Canada intervened. I am asking you again to use what influence you have to ensure these people can save lives of the most vulnerable.

I cannot stress this enough: These are Canadian medical personnel – doctors, nurses, and other health practitioners – who are taking time off work and spending their own funds to help save lives in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. These are Canadian heroes.

Last week, New Democrats met with Canadian medical personnel who have recently returned from Gaza. What we heard from these heroes was shocking: one doctor who had worked in the world’s worst humanitarian crises, including Afghanistan and Haiti, stated that Gaza was the worst they had ever seen. Another spoke of the many child amputees. Still another shared descriptions of starving families and how even Gaza’s remaining medical personnel are now starving.

None could understand your government’s incomprehensible indifference to the suffering of Palestinian children.

As you know, Palestinians in Gaza are now starving to death. There are no functioning hospitals left in Gaza since many of them have been bombed by Israel in violation of international law. More than 1500 of Gaza’s medical personnel have been killed and of the survivors, many have lost their family members. Israel’s humanitarian blockade and genocide has resulted in astonishing levels of suffering.

I am urging you today to call your counterparts in Israel and insist that Canadian medical teams be allowed into Gaza. No more refusals, no more excuses. These are humanitarians, part of Canadian-funded teams, denied for no apparent reason. And they should have the Government of Canada’s support.

More broadly, I had hoped that, after your government signed the joint statement along with the UK and France, Canadians would see action from you against this genocide. I am deeply concerned that your government is still refusing to take the clear steps necessary to oppose these egregious violations of international humanitarian law.

New Democrats have long called on your government to impose sanctions on Netanyahu, to implement an arms embargo, and to recognize the State of Palestine. We are asking you to suspend CIFTA. We are demanding that you take action that will show you will no longer tolerate the horrific genocide in which your government is sadly complicit.

It is never too late to do the right thing. It is never too late to say “no more”.

Please act today to ensure that, at the very least, these brave Canadians can help to save the lives of Palestinians in Gaza.

Sincerely,

Heather McPherson
Member of Parliament for Edmonton Strathcona
NDP Critic for Foreign Affairs, International Development, International Trade, and Defence