A child from the Gaza Strip receiving medical treatment arrived in Winnipeg Thursday, with support in part from the Manitoba government, and a federal minister called on other provinces to follow suit.

The 11-year-old Palestinian boy and his mother were received at the airport by Prime Minister Wap Kenio, who said that the province is already planning to receive a second child in the coming weeks.

“We have always been people who stand up in times of conflict, famine and natural disasters to help innocent people,” Kino said.

Kino did not name the 11-year-old boy or discuss details of his medical condition, citing privacy concerns. Kenio said that the boy, who arrived in Egypt with his family, suffers from a genetic condition that cannot be completely treated in the region.

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The prime minister gave the boy a small Canadian flag at the airport and spoke to him through an interpreter.

“He misses his other family members whom he has not seen for more than a year, and he wants to study to become an engineer when he grows up,” Kenio said.

Mark Miller, the federal minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, said children from Gaza had come to Canada for medical assistance, but this was the first time a provincial government had put its full weight behind the efforts.

“We’ve had other counties where we’ve had private care or hospitals step up and say, ‘We’re going to treat these individuals,'” Miller said. “It’s much easier when the prime minister stands up and says: ‘I’ll put my name behind this.’

“I think we can do more as a country.”

The child was identified with the assistance of Doctors Without Borders in Egypt and the federal government completed an admissibility examination.

Non-profit groups in Manitoba have stepped up to provide housing for the boy and his mother, and the Manitoba Islamic Society and other groups have provided financial support, groceries and more, Kenio said.

Since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023, children from Gaza have been sent to Qatar, various European countries and the United States for medical care.

The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza says there have been more than 110,000 infections during the war. A third of the 46,000 dead were children.

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