AFGH#4: Humanitarian Assistance for the Afghan people

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
With respect to resettlement support and getting people to safety, the reality is that the current streams cannot be applied to many people. Many people are still within Afghanistan. The stream that the government has provided is that they need to be in a third country.In the face of this situation, what specific recommendation do you have for the government so that we can ensure that people who are in Afghanistan would be able to access resettlement supports?

Asma Faizi, President, Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services
We've been asking for this to ensure that they open up the ability of Afghans from inside Afghanistan to seek resettlement. There was a short window where they had opened it, and then it was unclear as to why, but they shut it out. It's very important, and I can give an example.
Just in the last couple of weeks, I've had a number of Canadian organizations that want to help some women who are trapped inside Afghanistan and are in hiding. They were calling me to ask what were their options. Unfortunately, for the pathways that are open for those kinds of cases, they need to be outside of the country.
Canada needs to enable that once again, to allow those from inside Afghanistan to be able to apply for the resettlement program.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
You said there was a short window. Do you recall when that window was?

Asma Faizi, President, Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services
I believe it was in October. There was a two-week window when we were informed they were going to allow the vulnerable Afghans to seek resettlement, and then a couple of weeks later, we found out that it was no longer available.

Click to read the full discussion from the Committee meeting

Afghanistan Committee on Feb. 14th, 2022
Evidence of meeting #4 for Afghanistan in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session

7:15 p.m.

The Chair Sukh Dhaliwal
Liberal

The time is up. I was very generous.

We will move to the next honourable member.

Madam Kwan, you have six minutes.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all of the witnesses for their presentations. As well, thank you for the ongoing advocacy and work that you do.

I'd like to first ask Ms. Faizi a question.

With respect to resettlement support and getting people to safety, the reality is that the current streams cannot be applied to many people. Many people are still within Afghanistan. The stream that the government has provided is that they need to be in a third country.

In the face of this situation, what specific recommendation do you have for the government so that we can ensure that people who are in Afghanistan would be able to access resettlement supports?

We've been asking for this to ensure that they open up the ability of Afghans from inside Afghanistan to seek resettlement. There was a short window where they had opened it, and then it was unclear as to why, but they shut it out. It's very important, and I can give an example.

Just in the last couple of weeks, I've had a number of Canadian organizations that want to help some women who are trapped inside Afghanistan and are in hiding. They were calling me to ask what were their options. Unfortunately, for the pathways that are open for those kinds of cases, they need to be outside of the country.

Canada needs to enable that once again, to allow those from inside Afghanistan to be able to apply for the resettlement program.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

You said there was a short window. Do you recall when that window was?

Asma Faizi
President, Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services

I believe it was in October. There was a two-week window when we were informed they were going to allow the vulnerable Afghans to seek resettlement, and then a couple of weeks later, we found out that it was no longer available.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

I see. Did you have any information as to how, even in that two-week window, people were able to access that initiative?

Asma Faizi
President, Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services

My understanding was that the government had partnered with some organizations on the ground that were going to be referral organizations. I believe one was Front Line Defenders, and I believe there was another organization. They were designated as referral agencies that would identify those in need and then enable them to be resettled in Canada.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

One of the issues raised by Mr. Amiri was that the requirement of the UNHCR refugee determination is an impossible thing for people to attain. Have you called on the government to waive this requirement?

Asma Faizi
President, Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services

Yes. All of our recommendations to the government so far have asked for the waiver of that recognition status. It is a huge barrier. There are other examples. We get calls every day because of our connections, the fact that we've been working in this area for a long time and the fact that we're an Afghan organization.

We get multiple calls from people who want to be able to sponsor somebody through the G5, the groups of five, and you need to be recognized by the UNHCR or the host country. While we understand that the UN is operating in some of these third countries, they have a huge backlog, and they're not processing, so it's a huge barrier for a lot of people.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Would you be able to table with the committee all of the recommendations you've made to the government so that we have a record of that and their responses to you to date?

Asma Faizi
President, Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services

Yes.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you.

There's another question I'd like to ask.

For many people, the requirement of having to fill out all these forms, even if in a third country, within 14 days, is an almost impossible task for people. People can't access computers. There are language barriers and so on.

Would you support the call for the government to waive all of these application process requirements and to pause them, so to speak? Once people get to safety on Canadian soil, then they can always go back and fill out these forms and go through that process.

Asma Faizi
President, Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services

Certainly, any administrative barriers that have been put in place need to be alleviated. As I said, we were able to bring in 25,000 Syrians in 100 days.

As far as we know, there are about 7,000 people who have come to Canada so far. There is a dire humanitarian catastrophe. There are people at risk. Even for those who are able to get out of Afghanistan and go to third countries, with the horrific conditions under which they get to the countries and the horrific conditions in those third countries, the fear of being deported and the fear of being persecuted because they're going to be returned to Afghanistan, human dignity requires the world to see what's going on and to alleviate these administrative burdens on people who are at risk.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

One of the issues is about sponsorship. Aside from the private sponsorships, should the Canadian government be opening up family sponsorship for extended families? There are many Afghans who have Canadian family members here, but the sponsorship requirement is only for parents and grandparents or spouses and dependent children. Should the Canadian government open that up to extended family members?

The Chair Sukh Dhaliwal
Liberal

Thank you, Madam Kwan. Your time is up.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Mr. Chair, could I get a quick response?

The Chair Sukh Dhaliwal
Liberal

Yes. Please, go ahead.

Asma Faizi
President, Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services

Yes, definitely. They did it for the interpreters who came and their families. They expanded the definition of extended family. If it could be extended, it would be great, but we understand that the Canadian government has been expediting some of these family reunification cases. We thank them for doing that, but to expand the criteria would be very helpful.

8:20 p.m.

The Chair Sukh Dhaliwal
Liberal

Madam Kwan, we'll go to you for six minutes, please.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank all the witnesses for their service, their incredible work and their ongoing advocacy.

You are absolutely correct. I think the government dropped the ball. I still remember when the former minister of immigration was asked the question about resettlement. The response was to say that they could use the existing immigration measures, which we know was not going to be possible.

With that being said, moving forward on what can be done and what needs to be done, have you proposed to the government waiving the biometrics? It is absolutely paramount to waive the administrative and paperwork requirement. If so, what was their response?

Mr. Thorne.

Oliver Thorne
Executive Director, Veterans Transition Network

I would actually defer to my colleagues, General Fraser and General Milner, as they have had more direct communication with the government on this.

MGen (Ret'd) David Fraser

I can jump in quickly.

The Chair Sukh Dhaliwal
Liberal

General Fraser, go ahead.

MGen (Ret'd) David Fraser

We've made all those recommendations. We said we would work with the government on options on how to do that. Fundamentally we agreed that nobody should come into this country who shouldn't be here. You waive it at that end and you isolate them and then you do all the necessary biometrics and due diligence so we get the right people here. If they don't meet the requirements, you send them home. You send them back to Afghanistan.

The thing is to take them out of harm's way, do the vetting, bring them here or to a third party. We made all those recommendations, but the risk aversion is it's in the “too hard to do” column.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Would you be able to table with the committee the recommendations you've made to the government, so that we have them on the public record of the committee?

MGen (Ret'd) David Fraser

Yes. We can come up with all the letters and recommendations, because we still talk to IRCC and Global Affairs on a weekly basis, when we make all these recommendations. When the interdepartmental task force was up and running, we gave them the same recommendations.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you.

MGen (Ret'd) Dean Milner

I would just add that it's an opportunity for the government to be aggressive. We've talked biometrics. They can put a big team on the ground over in somewhere like Pakistan, very similar to what we did with Syria. We put in a whole-of-government team. You can actually do a lot of it right there on the ground. We'll continue to pull people out. Pakistan isn't the perfect spot, but there's a place that we continue to move people to.

Yes, we can table recommendations. We continue to push our recommendations through the lower levels of Immigration Canada, because we cannot really get the right people in Immigration to speak to us. We don't how far our recommendations are going up the chain of command, but we're absolutely key to give you anything that we can to assist.

We can recommend plans. We've done this before, so we're prepared to do that.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

I was going to say, given your experience, that you have done that before, with the Syrian initiative most recently. Because of that mobilization, we were able to bring people to safety.

If the government supported that effort right now and took the same approach as they did under the Syrian refugee initiative, would you be able to do that work with Afghanistan?

MGen (Ret'd) Dean Milner

I would say, absolutely, yes.

We've had people who did the exact same thing in Syria make recommendations and offer their services. I could call up somebody who led the operations for Syria who would go in there in a heartbeat. There are people out on the ground who will help.

Again, yes, we can assist. We've recommended plans, so, yes, we are 100% on standby to continue to assist.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

With respect to the evacuation—sorry, I shouldn't say evacuation—the bringing of people to safety, some of the collaborators, interpreters and so on may have served in a different frame or a different realm; however, not all of them are being recognized by the government in terms of their resettlement support.

From that perspective, how many people do you think fall into that bracket, and what should the government do about it? Should there be policy changes with respect to that?

MGen (Ret'd) David Fraser

We've recommended to the government to be as inclusive as possible. The criteria that the IRCC and the policy have right now are fairly broad. It gets kind of iffy when you talk about human rights. However, for journalists, women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ, cultural advisers, interpreters and cooks, there are enough conditions there that we can probably get them here. We should be more inclusive than exclusive, but, again, it goes back to the comment earlier that was made that we're too risk-averse.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Do you think the government should, for example, allow for Canadians to sponsor loved ones who are there? They're the extended families. I've had people tell me that their cousin, for example—

Pam Damoff Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Liberal

I have a point of order, Chair.

I'm sorry to interrupt, Ms. Kwan, but there's only a minute and 50 seconds left until the vote.

The Chair Sukh Dhaliwal
Liberal

Thank you very much, Madam Kwan. You almost got your six minutes.

On behalf of the committee members, I would love to thank both generals, General Fraser and General Milner, and Mr. Thorne for appearing on the committee and for their input to the committee. Thank you kindly.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Mr. Chair, before you wrap it up, could I ask the witnesses to send their written answers to that last question about sponsorship and extending it beyond parents, grandparents, spouses, independent children, the collaborators and the interpreters?