Canada’s Afghan refugees continue to wait on family members to join them – National | 24CA News
Khalid Khogiani arrived in Canada from Afghanistan by Pakistan greater than a 12 months in the past and has been ready for the Canadian authorities to course of the refugee functions for his spouse, mom and siblings ever since.
The 34-year-old, who labored as a pc assistant and interpreter with the Canadian Armed Forces in Kandahar between 2009 and 2011, mentioned he utilized for asylum at Canada’s embassy in Kabul and received his visa earlier than the Taliban seized management of the Afghan capital in August 2021. He arrived in Canada two months after the takeover, however the remainder of his household stayed within the household’s home in Afghanistan.
“When I remember my mother, I cry, my heart is crying, my mind is crying,” he mentioned.
“We spend difficult time when you are separated from your family and you come to Canada and your family is in Afghanistan, you know the pain.”
Read extra:
Taliban’s ban on ladies in universities vital to forestall gender mixing: minister
Read More
Khogiani is among the many Afghan refugees who got here to Canada on their very own or with a few of their members of the family because the fall of Kabul. Many who utilized for his or her family members to affix are left to attend for his or her functions to be authorised.
The federal Liberal authorities initially promised to settle 20,000 Afghan refugees after which doubled that dedication to 40,000 in the course of the election marketing campaign in 2021. More than 26,000 Afghan refugees have already arrived in Canada.
As many extra wait, the scenario in Afghanistan is additional deteriorating – particularly for women and girls. The Taliban rulers banned feminine college students from attending college this week of their newest crackdown on ladies’s rights and freedoms.
The Taliban was ousted from energy by a U.S.-led coalition, that included Canada, in 2001 within the aftermath of 9/11, however returned final 12 months after the U.S. abruptly and chaotically departed.
Khogiani mentioned his horrific one-and-a-half-month journey from Kabul to Toronto began when brokers working with Canada smuggled his brother and him by the border to Pakistan at night time.
They needed to disguise from the Pakistani police in Islamabad till his flight to Canada was lastly booked, he added.
He tried to carry the remainder of his household, however the Canadian authorities instructed him that including others to his utility would jeopardize his evacuation.
“I said to the (immigration department), I have my family there, so I cannot go to Canada without my family,” Khogiani mentioned.
“They said, ‘if you want to include your other family members, your case will be delayed. Do not do that.’”
The Afghan refugee, who now works as a technician with Bell Canada in Bradford, Ont., mentioned he ultimately determined to return to Canada on his personal and apply from right here for his members of the family to affix him.
His brother landed in Toronto a couple of weeks after him however the remainder of his members of the family, who not too long ago moved to Pakistan, are nonetheless ready for his or her refugee functions to be processed, he mentioned.
“I was scared. I was worried. So, I decide I need to go alone,” Khogiani mentioned.
Mona Elshayal, co-founder of a volunteer group known as Canadian Connections that has been serving to Afghan refugees to return to Canada, mentioned lots of the Afghan refugees who arrived right here final 12 months crammed out the types to carry their members of the family proper after touchdown in Canada.
“People who came (after) August 2021 who are trying to bring their families, other family members, who helped the Canadian government or military and followed their processes, called in, registered them, filled in the paperwork, there’s no updates on their paperwork,” she mentioned.
“There’s no way to get an update on the application – if anybody is ever going to come.”
She mentioned the delay has a damaging have an effect on those that got here right here, nevertheless it’s devastating those that are ready abroad to be united with their family members in Canada.
“There’s people who have travelled outside Afghanistan waiting for the Canadian government to bring them in and there’s no update on their application,” she mentioned.
“They’re in limbo, because they’re stuck. They can’t go back. They don’t know if the Canadian government is ever going to bring them.”
A spokeswoman for the federal immigration division mentioned the federal government acknowledges that’s it’s essential to maintain households collectively nevertheless it’s dealing with a “significant challenge” to course of the household reunification functions for Afghan refugees as lots of the members of the family are nonetheless in Afghanistan.
“We are navigating a constantly evolving situation in Afghanistan in which the government of Canada has no military or diplomatic presence,” Michelle Carbert mentioned in a press release.
“Movement out of Afghanistan by air and land continues to be very difficult and dangerous, and the absence of stable conditions and ever-changing circumstances around exit documentation requirements impacts our ability to move people quickly.”
Carbert mentioned the federal government is mostly unable to course of an utility till candidates attain a 3rd nation, submit their biometrics and meet different necessities.
“Applications continue to be processed as quickly as possible both remotely and digitally through our network of visa officers,” she mentioned. “These cases are also often very complex and processing will take longer as we work to receive information and work through their application. Every step along the way can bring a unique challenge depending on the individual’s circumstances.”
Stephen Watt, co-founder of Northern Lights Canada, a non-profit that’s been serving to Afghan refugees in Toronto, mentioned Canada’s response to the refugee disaster in Afghanistan has not met the expectations and wishes of those that helped Canada in Afghanistan.
“Canada talks about trying to be humanitarian and help these people, but then it handicaps its own programs with things like quota limits and paperwork requirements.”
“The consequence of all this is not that people (here) feel happy that they’re able to help people (in Afghanistan) who deserve it, they just feel frustrated and dismayed and disappointed.”
The authorities launched a brand new program in September to permit Canadian people and organizations to privately sponsor as much as 3,000 Afghan refugees who don’t have refugee standing from the United Nations refugee company or a international state.
But for Watt, it’s one other instance of Canada’s lacklustre response to the disaster in Afghanistan as a result of it was not solely capped at 3,000 functions, nevertheless it additionally required personal sponsors to finish a particular coaching course.
“If Canada really meant what it said about being a humanitarian country that has close ties with Afghan people, especially the ones who have relatives here or who have helped us, they would make things easier, not harder every time,” he mentioned.
