Bahga Elyamani sits with her kids Basma and Fawzi. Elyamani applied to bring her family from Sudan to Canada in April and still hasn't heard back from the federal government. Her elderly father died in August while waiting for approval.

Families in London, Ont., with relatives stuck in war-torn Sudan are calling on Ottawa to urgently speed up the process to bring their family members to safety in Canada. "These are people fleeing war and they're not in good shape, so we expect the process to be faster," one London resident says.