Written by Maxwell Heroux and Maheeshan Sivanesan
O
n November 18, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Carleton University held a sit-in at the tunnel level of the MacOdrum Library to raise awareness for the students in Gaza who have not yet received their Canadian study permits. SJP promoted the Sit-In For Gaza’s Students in an Instagram post published November 14. The post explained that students have been left waiting with no response from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). A recent report covered by the NB Media Co-op stated that “more than 130 students, many of them graduates, are awaiting study permits after being accepted into 26 Canadian universities.”
In an interview with The Leveller, SJP organizer Bessan Amer said this sit-in was to “raise awareness on the current moment with students from Gaza that have been trying to continue their education.” She added that many of these students have already been accepted into Canadian universities, but that “they haven’t been able to come to Canada because their visas haven’t been accepted.”
“We were able to give pamphlets and explain to all the people sitting around us what we were doing.”
The sit-in also aimed to emphasize the work of the Palestinian Students and Scholars at Risk (PSSAR) network. According to its website, PSSAR helps identify “outstanding Palestinian students and scholars affected by the ongoing genocide and systemic oppression” and connects them with “fully funded graduate and research opportunities worldwide.” SJP distributed flyers that promoted a petition put out by PSSAR and Justice for All Canada, a not-for-profit human rights advocacy organization. The petition urges Canada’s Immigration and Foreign Affairs Ministers to “immediately finalize and issue study permits” for all Palestinian students accepted into Canadian universities.
Amer noted that this was not the first time SJP Carleton took action regarding this situation. “We’ve also done some awareness in the past where we held a sit-in in front of the IRCC … trying to advocate for the right to education, for all people, no matter where you come from or where you are,” she described.
Despite Carleton’s history of silencing student activism, the response this year was drastically different, as security was not sent to shut down the sit-in that lasted four hours. Amer referred to a similar sit-in held December 3 last year, recalling how they “were harassed throughout the whole day by campus security [over accusations of] inciting hate based on the messaging.”
Amer believed that the lack of security this time was due to the protest not being directed at Carleton’s complicity with human rights violators, like previous Palestinian solidarity actions covered by The Leveller.
Another organizer, who requested to remain anonymous, reflected on the sit-in’s success.
“I think it went well,” they said. “We were able to give pamphlets and explain to all the people sitting around us what we were doing [and] we were able to occupy space, which is always a good thing – and just having the Palestinian flag to remind people that the genocide never ended even if there’s a ceasefire.”
Amer added that many students passing through the tunnels approached the group with questions, providing a good opportunity to spread awareness.
Ethan, an individual who attended the sit-in and also requested anonymity, said he joined because of the urgency of the situation.
“What brings me to the sit in today is wanting to support an active solidarity with the people in Gaza, but especially the students of Gaza, who have been denied the right to their education,” he said. He added that despite living under the most unimaginable conditions, they have “through their resilience and resourcefulness have continued to value and prioritize education.”
He also pointed out the contrast in how Canada treats Palestinian students compared to students from other war-torn areas, emphasizing how the government should be “approaching it with the same intensity, the same urgency that they did for the people of Ukraine.”
“There’s been a clear double standard in how the government of Canada has treated cases of Palestinians seeking refuge in Canada versus other countries,” he said. “If Canada truly valued the lives and the well-being of people seeking safety and refuge in the middle of genocide, then they would treat their asylum applications urgently with the urgency that they deserve.”
Ethan’s comments align with statistics of Canada’s unequal treatment of refugees. In a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives article published in November 2024, Nir Hagigi points out that “81 per cent of Ukrainian applications were accepted, but only 16 per cent of Palestinian applicants have been approved.” He adds that “The answer lies in anti-Palestinian racism.”
In a recent CBC News article, PSSAR chair Ayman Oweida explained how France had accepted Palestinian graduate students who had originally hoped to come to Canada.
“The heartbreak is that they did not come to us, when we’ve really put everything we can to have them come here,” he told CBC.
The article also cited an Immigration Department statement claiming that as of July 2025, only 864 of the “more than 1,750 people who exited Gaza [and] passed security screenings” have arrived in Canada.
“What brings me to the sit in today is wanting to support an active solidarity with the people in Gaza, but especially the students of Gaza, who have been denied the right to their education.”
On September 16, the NDP club at the University of Ottawa hosted Canadian MP Heather McPherson for a town hall in collaboration with Carleton University NDP. “We don’t know what else we can do to get the government to understand, that we are now, as Canadians complicit in genocide,” she answered to a question raised regarding Canada’s military exports to Israel. “We are signatories to the genocide convention, and [according to] the genocide convention, you don’t even need there to be proof of genocide – just probable genocide.”
For students at the Carleton sit-in, both the military exports and the study permit delays faced by Palestinian students reflect Canada’s complicity in Israel’s genocide. In their eyes, Canada not only enables the genocide in Gaza, but they also refuse to take in civilians whose lives have fallen apart.
Editor’s Note: The writers will be donating their Leveller honouarium to PSSAR, and encourage readers to donate as well.
