Evidence of meeting #12 for Afghanistan in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was ground.
A video is available from Parliament.
7:45 p.m.
Gen Wayne D. Eyre
Mr. Chair, I don't have that answer. I'll ask Admiral Auchterlonie; perhaps he does.
7:45 p.m.
VAdm J.R. Auchterlonie
Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's a very good question. The fact is that we were limited in our ability by the availability of slot times at Hamid Karzai International Airport at the time, both before and after the fall of Kabul. We had one slot time beforehand and then one afterwards, which we actually coordinated after the fall of Kabul.
We were working with the allied air bridge, through which we were assigned a slot time. We actually took that slot time to conduct our evacuations in conjunction with our allies. Because we had folks forward-deployed in CAOC in Qatar, we were able to actually adjust our slot time to go later in the day after our first few flights. Based on force protection and based on the temperature, which was lower in the middle of the night, we actually switched our times to the middle of the night to get more people out because the air density is higher in the evening, so you can fly more in the middle of the night.
That was actually coordinated because we had folks in Qatar, and we were doing that liaison on the ground as well as with our allies in Qatar.
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
This operation had whole-of-government support, so how did DND work with the other departments like GAC and IRCC with regard to this evacuation of the Afghans?
7:45 p.m.
Gen Wayne D. Eyre
Mr. Chair, one of the success stories that we saw, or one of the points to sustain out of this operation, was the daily interdepartmental task force meetings at the assistant deputy minister level. If not daily, almost every second day at the deputy minister-CDS level, we had to ensure that coordination at the most senior levels. On the ground, we also had good coordination. That level of interdepartmental co-operation is something that needs to be sustained.
I'm happy to report that it has gotten even better over the course of this Ukraine crisis.
7:50 p.m.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Is there anything further in regard to the evacuation you would like to add or anything?
7:50 p.m.
Gen Wayne D. Eyre
Mr. Chair, I would just like to add that I am extremely proud of the work that our people did during the course of this crisis in some very trying circumstances. We had one member on the ground who had, I believe, 10 or 12 deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq and had seen some pretty horrendous things, but he reported back that this was the most intense, emotionally draining two-week period of his life. The work that our people did on the ground was nothing short of outstanding.
7:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
We will go to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe for six minutes. Please go ahead.
7:50 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to extend my sincere thanks to all the witnesses who are with us today, and I also want to thank them for their service to the country.
We know just how much the members of the Canadian Armed Forces care about the welfare of the Afghan people, especially their brothers in arms who helped them on the ground. Once again, I want to thank them for being here. They stand in solidarity with the Afghan people; of that, there is no doubt.
The purpose of Operation Aegis was to evacuate Afghans with a significant or enduring relationship with the Government of Canada. That more or less describes the mission.
General Eyre, for the benefit of all those watching today's proceedings, can you tell us the criteria to determine whether a relationship is significant or enduring?
7:50 p.m.
Gen Wayne D. Eyre
Mr. Chair, first let me correct the premise of the purpose of Operation Aegis. It wasn't just to evacuate Afghans; it was also to evacuate Canadian citizens and Canadian entitled people. It's interesting to note that those listed on the ROCA, the registration of Canadians abroad, went up exponentially in the days after Kabul fell. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but we were dealing with what we thought was a certain number, and that number went up exponentially, in terms of those who wanted to get out.
As for the criterion for what constitutes an enduring relationship, it was generally a witness statement from somebody who had served with a member. I, myself, received many emails from Afghans I had served and worked with, and I would vouch for their credibility. Yes, they did serve with Canadians. Yes, they did serve with the Canadian Forces. You would say, “I served with this individual for this period,” and that would form the basis of the validation—that coupled with the employment records we had.
Now you also have to realize that some of the employment records we had were 10 to 15 years old, in some cases in digitized form, and difficult to recover. It was a combination of this type of information—records, plus personal attestations.
7:50 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you kindly, General Eyre, for that answer and those helpful details.
Many veterans' groups served in Afghanistan. Some managed to help their brothers in arms, but others had to give up their efforts because the situation became too challenging.
Have you been in contact with those veterans' groups? Some of them appeared before the committee and told us how hard the situation was on them, even impacting their mental health. They had made promises to their brothers in arms in Afghanistan, but unfortunately, they weren't able to get all of them out.
If you have been in contact with those groups, can you tell us about the discussions?
7:50 p.m.
Gen Wayne D. Eyre
Mr. Chair, I have personally had contact with a number of the members of those groups. I, too, felt the same sort of distress when Afghans that I'd served with would reach out to me, and I was not able to support them in the way I would like. I had to be very careful as well, as the Chief of the Defence Staff, not to have a conflict of interest and give certain priority or precedence to Afghans just because I knew them. It was a difficult spot.
I will say that, over the course of this operation, we were inundated with requests for specific Afghans at specific locations. People of influence, individuals in different walks of Canadian life contacted us, in fact overwhelming our communication systems with their individual pleas for their individual Afghans, to rescue them. Information management was a challenge as systems became clogged.
7:55 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
General Eyre, when an interpreter or any foreigner works with Canada in support of our military operations, I imagine the person undergoes a fairly extensive screening by the Canadian Armed Forces.
Is that correct?
7:55 p.m.
Gen Wayne D. Eyre
Mr. Chair, there were varying degrees of interpreter clearance, depending on the roles we were having them do. Some will be granted full security clearance based on the roles and the intelligence that are going to be accessed. For others who are hired locally, the screening is less intense. They are not given the same sort of exposure to intelligence.
I'll turn it over to Vice-Admiral Auchterlonie, who currently runs our ongoing operations and can speak to that in more detail.
7:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Vice-Admiral Auchterlonie, I'll go back to the member first.
Go ahead.
7:55 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
As I understand it, then, the screening is based on the individual's role within the Canadian Armed Forces.
Following the conflict, was that information forwarded to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC?
7:55 p.m.
Gen Wayne D. Eyre
Mr. Chair, some of that information, if it still existed in record form, would form part of the validation process that would be given to IRCC.
I think it's also important to note that many of these interpreters did not work solely for Canada. Many worked for other nations as well, especially after we pulled out in 2014. That long and enduring relationship with Canada was also enjoyed by other countries as well.
7:55 p.m.
Liberal