As Gazans slowly start to arrive in Canada, their families fear for those left behind

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Abeer Abusharar sat with her brother Oun, his wife Haneen and their son Sanad as they crowded around a cell phone in Ottawa waiting anxiously for her little brother to pick up.

The phone has been Abeer's lifeline to her family in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began last October. Until very recently, Oun and his family were the ones on the other end of that lifeline — trying to reassure family members in far-off Canada as bombs exploded all around them.

«The first feeling is you finally feel safe,» said Oun Abusharar on Sunday, as he and his sister struggled to connect a video call with younger brother Muhammad Abusharar and his children. «You're trying to think about your future, not about just how to survive every single morning.»

Oun, his wife and son were approved for visas to Canada under the extended family visa program launched by Immigration Minister Marc Miller in January. They landed in the Montreal airport on May 6.

They're among the lucky few — very few. Miller recently lifted the cap on applications for the extended family visa program from 1,000 to 5,000.

But his department says that as of this week, just 41 people have made it to Canada under the program. The department says 254 applicants have received their temporary residence visas and almost 3,000 applications have been accepted for processing.

Abeer applied for permission to bring her brothers, their wives and children, and her parents from Gaza to Canada in January. So far, only Oun and his family have made it here, despite more than ten applications filed on behalf of the Abusharar family.

«It's a good feeling to be here, but it needs to be for all of us,» said Oun.

Getting out wasn't easy. Oun and Haneen's son Sanad was