Evidence of meeting #9 for Afghanistan in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was families.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
Former Interpreter, Canadian Armed Forces, As an Individual
For me, it was two months in 2012.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Erin O'Toole Conservative Durham, ON
Two months and three months.... It was four months for James Akam back in 2015-16 when there was no politics, when I spoke to Minister McCallum about an interpreter who had been left behind and who had the military vouching for him. He was here in four months because there was no politics.
After that, under Minister Hussen, for Karim Amiri, it was no; Rohuddin Zia, no; Alam Kham, no; Niaz Mohammed, no; Mohammed Wardak, no.
Before the fall of Afghanistan in August, James Bezan and several other members of Parliament—on all sides—and I had been trying for seven years to bring in people.
Do you know how many are eligible based on the criteria from 2009-11, that one year of service and some sort of recommendation? I'm just talking about the interpreters or contractors. Their families should come with them. I told Mr. McCallum that there were several hundred a few years ago. That would make several thousand with families and extended....
We've had seven years to do this. How many do you know who are eligible right now and who we could bring to Canada?
4:55 p.m.
Former Interpreter, Canadian Armed Forces, As an Individual
There are so many. Personally, I know of five of my friends who were interpreters. Some of them have their documents. One who I know of burned his documents. We burned my personal documents. There are five people I know who have applied to this process but they have received nothing from the government. It's now been seven or eight months that they have applied....
5 p.m.
Former Interpreter, Canadian Armed Forces, As an Individual
Yes. I know dozens of people who are calling me every day. I have direct contact with them on the ground. They worked with the Canadian Forces for more than four or five years. They worked under my own supervision and they are eligible, but they still cannot make it to come to Canada.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Erin O'Toole Conservative Durham, ON
Thank you, both of you.
Offhand, both of you know dozens of people like Mr. Akam, who came here in a few months with documentation. I'll be tabling these documents for the record: letters from many years, with certificates that show the military officers who signed them can vouch for these people. This is not rocket science. The fact that you're here and in some cases going on hunger strikes for people to show some leadership....
I want to thank you. I want you to continue to work with this committee, because we—the military and public affairs, Veterans Affairs and Foreign Affairs—have the documentation to confirm this. It was a lack of political action, and we've made it more complicated by waiting. I would like to see an end to the politics.
In your case, Mr. Zahed, what type of documentation did you show? Was it a certificate of approval or appreciation from the military?
5 p.m.
Former Interpreter, Canadian Armed Forces, As an Individual
I had more than 20 certificates because I had been working for a long time for the Canadian Forces and other countries. I had to show my certificates, my appreciation letters and a recommendation letter from a colonel, who is currently a retired general, and that was it.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Erin O'Toole Conservative Durham, ON
One of the letters I sent to Minister Hussen is from the interpreter who served alongside Minister Sajjan in Afghanistan, and we couldn't get them to move.
How many do you know who have stayed in touch with members of the Canadian Armed Forces through social media or through Facebook, when they were able to get to those services over the last few years?
5 p.m.
Former Interpreter, Canadian Armed Forces, As an Individual
There are many.
There are many people in contact with what they used to call their “mentors”, and they still are. Their mentors are doing their best from this side, but all the problems are coming from IRCC and immigration. It's not being coordinated correctly, and it's not being followed up on correctly.
As we said earlier, it has been seven months. If the minister or the IRCC cannot do something in Afghanistan, the least they could do here in Canada is assign a G number and a UCI number for the people who have submitted their applications, but they have not even done that yet.
As was mentioned earlier, when my friend Mr. Faizi mentioned that if the IRCC had worked on one case per day, I think we would have most of our cases and everything. When it comes to the paperwork and certification, earlier I mentioned that the initial application was 33 pages long—I have all the phone numbers—and, of that, we had to reply to a few emails saying “more documents”. As of last week, we received another 16 pages of forms, and they are giving us 30 days to submit them. It's been six weeks that I haven't talked to them, so how can I fill in those forms?
5 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
I'm sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Zahed.
Mr. O'Toole, your time is up.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Erin O'Toole Conservative Durham, ON
Thanks very much, both of you.
Mr. Chair, for the record, I'll be tabling the letters I referenced.
5 p.m.
Liberal
5 p.m.
Liberal
Maninder Sidhu Liberal Brampton East, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank all of our witnesses for taking the time to be with us today. I want to thank you for your service as well.
I don't have the words to say in listening to you here today and hearing about what you're going through. It's very unfortunate that the Taliban is in charge now and making things incredibly difficult for so many in the country, including so many women and girls. We hear these horrific stories coming out of Afghanistan.
I've heard about the Taliban preventing Afghans from leaving Afghanistan if they don't have travel documents. I'd like to know more from Mr. Sayed and Mr. Zahed about how many individuals from your group of friends or how many people who you know have a valid travel document and are able to leave and how many there are that the Taliban have prevented from leaving.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Maninder Sidhu Liberal Brampton East, ON
It doesn't have to be an exact number. I just want to get an understanding.
5:05 p.m.
Former Interpreter, Canadian Armed Forces, As an Individual
At the beginning, we had zero travel documents, so out of those 5,000 family members, we have gotten nothing. That's what we are trying to get: a single travel document from the government so that we can go to.... When it comes to stopping...most of us or all of us have our families hidden, right? Sometimes I don't know where they are until I hear from them.
Literally, we do not dare to go to any office or even to come forward. We even try to avoid our relatives. We just do not want to be seen. We go to a completely different province or a completely different city. We have zero travel documents or anything that can facilitate our travel.
5:05 p.m.
Former Interpreter, Canadian Armed Forces, As an Individual
Thank you.
This is a very important question. Since the Taliban is running the government and they have control of the institutions, our families will not try to get a travel document or an Afghan passport to cross the border. That's why we are calling on the government and asking the IRCC to issue a single travel document through the high commission in Qatar or the high commission in Islamabad and send it to our families. That way, we would have a travel document with an electronic pass or a national ID, so our families could cross the border to go to a third country, either in Qatar or Islamabad, and then they will start the process.
At this moment, we don't have any documents like that.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Maninder Sidhu Liberal Brampton East, ON
Thank you, Mr. Sayed.
I'd like to ask Ms. Reddy a question as well.
First of all, thank you for everything you're doing on the humanitarian front in helping to resettle Afghan nations.
Can you shed some light on roughly how many Afghan nationals are accessing your settlement services?
5:05 p.m.
National Director, Government-Assisted Refugee Resettlement and the National Afghan Refugee Resettlement Programs, Calgary Catholic Immigration Society
We have 34 resettlement agencies across the country. If they are destined for a resettlement location, then all of them have access to the RAP income support and all of the services. They come in, and within a few days they are assessed. They are asked about their education and about their language. They have language assessments and they transfer over to settlement services. If it's a more intricate case, it goes into case management and then into settlement services. Every single person who has come in as a government-assisted refugee will definitely get resettlement assistance program services. They've all come in as government-assisted refugees. They've been evacuated. They will all have resettlement services.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Maninder Sidhu Liberal Brampton East, ON
Thank you for that.
In your opening remarks you mentioned how corporate Canada has shown goodwill and stepped up to support resettlement of Afghan nationals and supported the many needs. You mentioned the generosity of corporate Canada. What are your greatest settlement needs at the current moment?
5:05 p.m.
National Director, Government-Assisted Refugee Resettlement and the National Afghan Refugee Resettlement Programs, Calgary Catholic Immigration Society
Basically what they've been offering thus far has been employment. A lot of them want to employ the Afghan nationals. We've also asked them to look at other refugees, because we don't want the other refugees to feel that the optics aren't good. When it comes to settlement, they definitely want to employ them immediately. They have various positions across the country. All that the resettlement agencies need to do is to connect with their clients, speak to them, look at their education and connect with corporate Canada. There are over 35 corporate Canada vendors who have provided their support and their information to us. It's been really amazing, because we've filled quite a few positions in many of the big vendors.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Maninder Sidhu Liberal Brampton East, ON
Thank you, Ms. Reddy.
Mr. Zahed, I come to you now. We know that many countries are operating in Afghanistan, helping out with humanitarian assistance or on the ground. Do you know of other countries that are able to help some of your colleagues and their families out of Afghanistan right now on a consistent basis, so we can get an understanding?