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CBC NEWS: ‘Waiting for our death’: Afghan miliary lawyers beg Canada for help to escape

A former Canadian military legal officer says a group of Afghan lawyers and other staff who helped his mission in Afghanistan have been "left in the dark," and is urging Canada's Immigration Ministry to act quickly to help them escape the Taliban.

It's been one year since Canada began accepting fleeing Afghans through its one-year special immigration program for Afghans who helped the Canadian government, set up a few weeks before Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021.

To date, roughly 17,170 Afghans have arrived in Canada. Last month, the Liberal government closed its immigration program to new applicants, less than halfway toward its goal of bringing 40,000 Afghans to Canada.

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan has said the government's claim that other immigration avenues remain open to Afghans is "deceptive."

"That is just a rejection," she said.

 

 

IN THE NEWS: Toronto Star - Are you waiting for the confirmation of your extended work permits? It may be in a stranger’s inbox

Vancouver East MP Jenny Kwan, the NDP’s immigration critic, said what happened is a serious privacy breach and the government should know these errors have seriously consequences.
“Despite the immigration minister’s claim that the system is working, the department continues to be in complete chaos,” said Kwan. “They are putting people in perpetual distress. I can’t believe that the government has resorted to this kind of scare tactics.
“With this kind of communication, they are telling people that they are unimportant and they are not welcomed. The Liberals are completely forgetting that immigration services can impact someone for the rest of their lives. They are putting Canada’s reputation in jeopardy.”

OPEN LETTER: Urgent Housing Crisis

As you know, the lack of access to safe, secured affordable housing in Vancouver has been a longstanding challenge. This was brought on by the cancellation of the National Housing Program in 1993 and the lack of action by successive federal governments to invest in the development of social housing. The pandemic in the last 2 years and the current heat wave has further exacerbated the situation. The latest available data indicates there are currently over 2,000 identified homeless individuals in the city, and a disproportionate number of them identify as Indigenous.
In my previous correspondence with you, I have outlined the seriousness of the housing crisis in Vancouver and called for federal action. Today, I am reiterating calls for action.
Since 2018, we have seen in our community, large scale homeless encampments erected by the unhoused, first in Oppenheimer Park, then in Crab Park, followed by Strathcona Park. In August of 2020, I issued a joint open letter with MLA Mark and Mayor Kennedy calling for the federal government to urgently address the housing crisis by entering into a 50/50 cost sharing agreement with the province to build more supportive housing and acquire new housing stock

Canada Immigration NEWS: Updated Anti-Racism Strategy For Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

MP Jenny Kwan, the immigration critic for the New Democratic Party in the House of Commons, echoed those sentiments, reportedly admitting that, while the language used by the IRCC is positive, there’s a lack of immediate action specified.

“As the government consults, as they examine and study these issues, the ongoing impact of discriminatory policies is having a real effect for people,” Kwan reportedly told the National Post.
African, South American and Asian delegates planning to attend a major AIDS conference in Montreal were denied visas, many of them because the Canadian government did not believe they would return home, Kwan reportedly claimed.
On social media, critics of the IRCC have noted African students who apply to Canadian colleges and universities are denied study permits at much higher rate that international students from other countries. 

Open Letter to Federal Housing Minister on urgent housing crisis

I am therefore calling on the federal government to re-establish the Vancouver Agreement – a tripartite initiative that brought all levels of government together to support social, economic and community development in Vancouver, with a specific focus on the Downtown East Side.  We need an urgent and concerted effort between all levels of government working in collaboration with local non-governmental organizations to address the challenges in our community, with urgent interventions to find safe housing and supports for people in crisis, and long-term systemic solutions to address the needs of the community.  The status quo simply cannot continue.

NEWS RELEASE: NDP calls on Liberals to extend program to bring Afghans to safety

A year ago, the Canadian government announced the Special Immigration Measures for Afghans so that they could get to safety. Instead of expeditious processing, the application process is opaque, confusing and mired in bureaucratic red tape. The NDP exposed that 2,900 applications referred by the Department of National Defence (DND) are ‘lost’ between departments. Additional files referred by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) also cannot be found. To date, there has been no explanation from IRCC on what happened to those applications, while people continue to be hunted down by the Taliban.

Despite this sad reality, the Special Immigration Measure for Afghans is coming to an end. Automatic response indicate that ‘…this mailbox is no longer receiving applications.’ That means many who assisted Canada on missions, and their families may never make it to safety.

CBC NEWS: Ex-Afghan interpreter praised by top soldier is still in the dark about his immigration status

Saturday will mark a year since Ottawa created a special program to prioritize immigration applications from Afghans who worked with the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian government, along with their family members.

One former interpreter — whose work earned him a letter of appreciation from Canada's current chief of the defence staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre — has been waiting nearly as long to find out if he qualifies.

"Sometimes [Eyre] would put his hand on my shoulder, say, 'Hey, nice, you've been doing a very good job for us,'" the interpreter told CBC News from Islamabad, Pakistan, where he now lives...

IN THE NEWS: Canadian Press - Canada’s Immigration Department revamps anti-racism strategy following criticism

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the language in the strategy is positive, but doesn’t appear to be backed up by immediate action.

“As the government consults, as they examine and study these issues, the ongoing impact of discriminatory policies … is having a real effect for people,” Kwan said in an interview Friday. 

She pointed to speakers from Africa, South America and Asia who are planning to attend a major AIDS conference in Montreal who have been denied visas, often on the grounds that the Canadian government doesn’t believe they’ll return home after the event.

Global NEWS: Why is Ottawa turning away from Afghans who helped Canada? ‘We’re failing them’

The government conceded that there’s enough interest to fill the 18,000 spots through the special program and that there are, in fact, only 18,000 spots.

“To suggest the program is open when the 18,000 spots are spoken for, they’re lying to themselves and they’re lying to the public,” Jenny Kwan, NDP MP for Vancouver East, told Global News.

“And the sad news is this: the people who’ve been left behind, their lives are in jeopardy. If we don’t do anything about it, they will be hunted down by the Taliban. It’s a matter of time before that happens.”

CBC NEWS: Ottawa closes special Afghan immigration program to new applicants

Less than halfway to its goal of bringing 40,000 Afghans to Canada, the federal government is no longer taking new referrals for the special immigration program meant to prioritize former employees of the Armed Forces or Canadian government and their families.

CBC News has learned the government is processing the last of the 18,000 applications filled out by Afghans hoping to come here through the program. Advocates for refugees say the decision to wind down the program abandons Afghans desperate to come to this country.

The program was set up nearly a year ago, a few weeks before Kabul fell to the Taliban in August, 2021 and before the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to bring 40,000 Afghans to safety here.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's online referral portal for the program is still up but a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Sean Fraser confirmed in a media statement that all spots in the program have been taken up.