Afghanistan

HANSARD: Jenny advocates for the immigration assistance for Afghans and other minorities fleeing Putin's war

AFGN#16: Humanitarian Assistance for the Afghan people

AFGN#15: Humanitarian Assistance for the Afghan people

AFGN#14: Meeting Requested by Four Members of the Committee to Discuss the Production of Documents Prior to the Presentation of the Committee's Report

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to get some clarity. If the issue is about national security, Madam Damoff's amendment suggests that we seek government officials to confirm that national security could be put in jeopardy if this were provided to us. If, in fact, that is confirmed and that is the case, NSICOP would be the appropriate place to send this to, because that committee was established to deal with such matters.
It is my understanding, and perhaps the clerk can confirm, that we have a member of Parliament from each party represented at that committee. Is that not the case? If that's the case, we have to have some faith in our colleagues on that committee to do the due diligence on the work there.
If the issue is not around national security and that was not confirmed by the officials, then there is a real question about it being sent to NSICOP. I would think that's not the appropriate thing to do and we should have the document sent to this committee, having gone through the regular process of redaction, although I note that in the original motion there is no call for redaction of any sort. There is none of the language that normally shows up on cabinet confidentiality, national security issues or privacy redactions that should be vetted by the law clerk. The original motion does not provide for that either.
Given that the amendment is saying it will be subject to confirmation that national security is at issue, that is an important piece. If that confirmation does not come about on Monday, then it puts this issue in a different place, and we should have further discussion about it.

Click to read the full discussion from the Committee meeting

Globe NEWS: With no clear path to Canada, Afghan lawyers seeking refuge say they’re forced to live in secrecy

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan wrote a letter to Mr. Fraser and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly in December, saying that she wanted to bring their attention to the law-firm employees stuck in Kabul and that they are facing “very credible threats” to their lives.
She said in an interview that the situation is “absolutely devastating.” Ms. Kwan said the group asked for assistance from the government in August, and the response has “been crickets.”
“Why haven’t these individuals whose lives are in imminent danger, who are hiding on a daily basis from the Taliban, have not heard from IRCC? How is this even possible?”
Ms. Kwan said she is concerned that the government will simply leave them behind, adding that she is drafting another letter and is calling on the government to commit to bring them to safety.

AFGN#13: Humanitarian Assistance for the Afghan people

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
Thank you. In the instance where biometrics could not be obtained for obvious reasons.... The government is saying that people have to go to the Taliban office to get a passport. You can imagine what that will be like. There will absolutely be a bull's eye put on them. They will not be able to get those passports, and without those passports, they cannot get to a third country. Without getting to a third country, they cannot get to safety.
From that perspective, if we've exhausted all of these options, given that people's lives hang in the balance, should the government then waive the biometrics and other documentation requirements until the Afghans are safely here in Canada? Once they're safe on Canadian soil, we can then go through the process and do all of that work.

Warda Meighen, Partner, Landings LLP
Yes. I think that's something we've done in other contexts. We've done that in the context of Kosovo, for example, with onshore processing. Absolutely we should look at that if biometrics in Afghanistan is just not working. To the extent that we have inadmissible individuals who are found on Canadian soil, we have the provisions in our immigration regime to deal with that. We shouldn't look at that as a failure of the system. It's actually the system working. We have mechanisms in the immigration regime to take care of inadmissible persons when they're found within the biometrics process, I'm sure.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
Thank you. Dr. Powell, right now the referral agencies that the government is accepting for Afghans are very limited. Why do you think it is important for the minister to expand the referral organizations for resettlement to other qualified and established civil society organizations that are connected to vulnerable refugees such as members from the LGBTQ2+ communities?

Dr. Kimahli Powell, Executive Director, Rainbow Railroad
Thank you for the question. You know, as I said in my remarks, the government clearly identified vulnerable populations. For the LGBTQI+ community, there are specific vulnerabilities and barriers to adequately identifying those persons. There was a clear expectation set on August 13 when those vulnerable populations were announced. We have a rare ability, having demonstrated expertise in evacuating persons, to provide assistance to fulfill the government's promise to resettle those persons. A referring partnership is the tool to allow us to do that.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
You are also calling on the government to immediately resettle 300 at-risk LGBTQ2+ Afghan refugees. Should the government do this as a special immigration measure in addition to the 40,000 Afghan refugees they have already announced as their measure? The reason I ask this is that those numbers are actually filling up really fast now, and there aren't that many spots left. I fear that people will be left behind.

Dr. Kimahli Powell, Executive Director, Rainbow Railroad
This is a specific ask in addition to the 40,000 committed, because at this stage we do not know if they're going to meet that target. So the answer is yes.

Click to read the full discussion from the Committee meeting

 

Parliament VIDEO: Bring Afghan nationals who assisted Canada and their families to safety!

On May 10 2022, MP Jenny Kwan raised questions and concerns with the Liberal government's lack of action in ensuring that Afghans who are fleeing and hiding from the Taliban would be able to get to safety. There are over 300 former Afghan interpreters whose families have been left behind. They have made application and done a tremendous amount of work in guiding the government in bringing forward the necessary immigration measures to support their loved ones so that they can get to safety. Unfortunately, even with all of that guidance, the government has not been able to move forward in bringing their loved ones to Canada:

HANSARD: Oral Question on IRCC losing 2900 urgent Afghan applications

Canadian Press NEWS: Fraser pressed on why Immigration has not approved 2,900 Afghans who helped Canada

OTTAWA — NDP caucus chair Jenny Kwan says she is seeking urgent answers about what has happened to the applications of 2,900 Afghans who helped the Canadian military.

Kwan is demanding Immigration Minister Sean Fraser explain why the Afghans, whose credentials were checked and verified by Canada’s military, have not had their applications to come to Canada approved.

Defence chief Gen. Wayne Eyre told a parliamentary committee Monday night that the Defence Department had checked and verified the credentials of 3,800 Afghans, including interpreters, who supported the Canadian military.

Kwan said she is planning to pursue the matter vigorously with the department as the lives of Afghans who helped Canadian troops are in danger from the Taliban.

She also plans to ask if the Immigration Department has lost files of Afghan interpreters who want to come to Canada, saying the government has “betrayed them.”

Global NEWS: Immigration minister pressed on applications of 2,900 Afghans who helped Canada

NDP caucus chair Jenny Kwan says she is seeking urgent answers about what has happened to the applications of 2,900 Afghans who helped the Canadian military.

Kwan is demanding Immigration Minister Sean Fraser explain why the Afghans, whose credentials were checked and verified by Canada’s military, have not had their applications to come to Canada approved.

Defence chief Gen. Wayne Eyre told a parliamentary committee Monday night that the Defence Department had checked and verified the credentials of 3,800 Afghans, including interpreters, who supported the Canadian military.

But the committee heard from Eyre and Bill Matthews, deputy defence minister, that only 900 of them have had their applications to come to Canada accepted so far by the Immigration Department.