|
Support bringing Palestinian children to receive medical treatment in Canada
Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Just try to visualize for a moment, when the Israelis decided to bomb Gaza, what
thousands of families in Palestine have endured for the past 28 days.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) latest
report on Gaza; as of 8 AM, August 12th 2014, 1995 people have been killed, among
them 458 children, and 238 women; 9986 people have been injured, including 3009
children , 359 elderly , 370,000 people have been displaced, IDP, 16800 homes destroyed
or damaged severely , that is the Richmond and Surrey population combined. 370,000
children requiring direct and specialized psychological support to deal with the
trauma.
Can you imagine the impact of the Israeli aggression has left thousands of children
without one or both parents, lying on the bare floor in an overly crowded under
staff, exhausted beyond our imagination and ill-supplied Al Shifa Hospital.
On July 28, Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish made a general appeal in Toronto Star, “Canadians
can heal wounds in the Holy Land” urging the Ontario and federal government to bring
at least 100 wounded children who require urgent and immediate medical assistance
to Canada. His proposal was supported by the Federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair.
In his statement released on August 3, Sunday afternoon, Mulcair said the Feds should
get involved.
"I call on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to join us and pledge his personal support,
and that of the Canadian government, to offer our aid to the injured children of
Gaza and help facilitate the transfer of injured children to Canadian hospitals.
"Working with the provinces and health professionals, we have a chance to demonstrate
the best of Canadian values including peace, love and care for others."
On August 3rd Justin Trudeau on his twitter handle wrote, “Please add your name
in support of bringing Palestinian children to receive medical treatment in Canada.
http://www.heal100kids.com/ .”
On August 5, Ontario took the lead on Dr. Abuelaish appeal, and became the first
province to announce, “The province is willing to take the most serious cases from
both Gaza and Israel if the children are unable to receive proper treatment at home
but can make the journey to Canada, Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins said Tuesday.”
“Five Ontario hospitals — including Toronto's famed Hospital for Sick Children —
have offered to treat the kids, with some medical staff even offering to work for
free. There's also a possibility that funds may be raised by the public to offset
some of the costs, such as transport and accommodation,” Hoskins said, “the province
needed help from the federal government, such as for providing visas.”
At this hour of need, We urge Prime Minister Stephen Harper to issue visa to those
in need.
We request our BC Premier Christie Clark, to follow the lead of Ontario’s Premier,
Ms. Kathleen Wynne, as a mother to consider and accept the proposal of Dr. Izzeldin
Abuelaish Initiative and assist the children of Gaza, Palestine.
The province of BC needs to make at least similar commitment as Ontario.
We say to Premier Christie Clark, this would be an excellent time to show your softer
compassionate side, the one shown by Ms. Kathleen Wynne, the Premier of Ontario
– Bravo to you and your cabinet for considering such a bold and humane step.
|