3 days ago
These Gazan families came to Quebec for safety. Now, they face life without health coverage
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When Nidal Zaqout arrived in Montreal last September from Gaza, he hoped to have a chance to rebuild his life.
But safety didn't mean the struggle was over.
He soon realized that he and his family would only receive public health coverage for three months after arrival — despite having fled Israel's deadly attacks on Gazans and their homeland.
"It's a bad feeling, I'm thinking about everything every day," Zaqout said from the living room of his West Island home, where he lives with his parents, two of his sisters, his wife and his two children.
"I have a big family, big responsibility."
Zaqout fears what might happen if someone in his household becomes ill. His father suffers from severe knee pain and his mother from migraines and issues with her back, shoulder and neck.
Without Quebec health insurance (RAMQ), going to a hospital is not an option, and the options are scarce and expensive.
"Not all the people have money, they cannot cover for the health because the people came from Gaza," said Aya, Zaqout's 15-year-old sister.
"Everything is destroyed, they don't have nothing. They lost everything."
As Zaqout and his sister spoke, their mother served dates and coffee. The family gathered close and gently helped one another tell their story in Arabic, French, and English, attentive to every detail.
Zaqout expressed gratitude toward the Canadian and Quebec governments and said he was happy and feels safe here, but wishes he and his family could have access to care.
"I can't live without a medical card," he said.
'I need health care after the war'
Zaqout and his family arrived in Canada as temporary residents through the temporary residency program for Gazans. Their visas are valid for three years and they initially received three months of health coverage through the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) — after which the federal government says it's up to the provincial government to take over.
But Quebec has faced criticism for failing to do so.
More than 70 civil society and health-care groups in the province published an open letter in La Presse last month calling out the province for not providing health-care coverage to Gazans.
"Quebec remains the only province refusing to insure their health care," the letter stated.
According to federal data, 823 Gazans have made it to Canada between October 2023 and May 2025.
These families are among the Palestinians affected after Israel's army killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health authorities, and displaced 90 per cent of the enclave's population.
That same month, a United Nations report concluded that Israel is deliberately inflicting conditions "calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians as a group, one of the categories of genocidal acts in the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention."
"Everything got destroyed, my house, my everything, my business, my jobs," said Zaqout, showing a video of his former home in Gaza — a house with elegant architecture and a palm tree that once stood tall beside it.
Jehan Elsayyed, another Gazan who has been living in Sherbrooke, Que., since December, is all too familiar with Zaqout's loss.
She tears up over videoconference as she recalls witnessing an old man forced to strip by an Israeli soldier and her time living in Gaza with 180 people in a single house without water, food or electricity.
When she finally made it to Quebec, she slipped on ice and broke her arm. Her health coverage expired shortly after and now, she continues to suffer.
"I need health care after the war," she said. "I don't want my health situation to be worse."
Elsayyed is learning French and said she is trying to integrate into society, grateful for the help she's received from Quebecers. But she finds it "very frustrating" to live without health insurance.
"I hope that I can have the right to live as a respected person … and to be equal like other immigrants in Quebec," she said.
'We're making them even more vulnerable,' says doctor
In the open letter, the 75 organizations pointed out a "double standard" after Quebec extended Ukrainians' health-care coverage — initially set to expire in March last year — until March 2028.
"The same protection has so far been denied to Palestinian families, including children, fleeing a situation described by many experts as genocide," read the letter.
Sophie Zhang, a member of Quebec Doctors Against Genocide, was among the physicians who signed it.
"Our governments do play a role in what's happening to these Gazan families and the reason why they're here in the first place," said Zhang.
"So I do think we need to take this responsibility and at least give them basic rights like health care."
Khadijé Jizi, a Montreal-based genetic counselor and member of the Health Worker Alliance for Palestine, highlighted that Gazan patients suffer from chronic conditions, gynecological and fertility issues and PTSD.
"These are all things that didn't disappear when they left Gaza. They're still there and they need medical attention," said Jizi.
She also warned that without public coverage, Palestinian children won't be supported for potential developmental issues or language delays.
"These are vulnerable families, so them leaving a country during a genocide and coming to a whole new country … has its set of challenges," said Jizi.
"When we add not having access to health care, we're making them even more vulnerable."
Conflicting explanations from Quebec and Ottawa
In response to CBC's request, Quebec's immigration and health ministries issued a joint statement, declaring that provincial health coverage eligibility depends on documents issued by federal immigration authorities related to Gazans' status.
The statement noted that the visa granted under the federal government's temporary public policy for Gazans does not include any specific designation, unlike the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel.
Instead, the province said "it is a general document allowing a foreign national to stay in Canada for a limited period," and does not specify under which program they arrived.
The provincial ministries said they've asked the federal government to extend coverage under the temporary public policy to "avoid a lapse" and "allow [Gazans] to regularize their status to qualify for the plan," but they say they have yet to receive a response.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, meanwhile, said public health-care coverage is "primarily a provincial/territorial responsibility" and that provinces and territories were also encouraged to consider extending access to health.
"Comparisons between Gaza and other crises, such as in Ukraine, oversimplify complex realities that must be considered, including provincial capacity to support newcomers, the ease of movement out of conflict zones, and the targets set by the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan," the federal ministry wrote in a statement responding to CBC's follow-up questions.
Zhang described the sentence as "shocking" and questioned why Ottawa would cite immigration targets in this context.
She said she interpreted both governments' statements as attempts to deflect responsibility for an issue that is "very easily solvable."
Haya Alsakka, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement in Montreal, described the lack of extended health coverage for Gazans as a "policy of racism and discrimination," targeting Palestinian and Arab communities.
She noted Quebec "very quickly" provided health coverage to Ukrainians.
"How are we supposed to believe that it really is an administrative issue that is barring Quebec from giving these families health-care access?" asked Alsakka.
Zaqout still has loved ones trapped in Gaza, including one of his sisters, along with her husband and child who remain in a tent. He explained that they were living in a different part of the enclave. When they tried to escape, the road was bombarded by the Israeli military. He also added that they didn't receive visas from the federal government.
His family cries every day, longing for news and a chance to reunite.
Zaqout, who worked as a nurse in Gaza, shows CBC videos of himself treating Palestinian children inside tents and says he hopes to put that same care to work for Quebecers.
"I want to succeed in my life. I want to provide all my experience, all my everything to these people here," said Zaqout.
"I hope to complete my family here and I hope to have a medical card."
