Afghanistan Committee on April 11th, 2022

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Now we are going to Salma Zahid for two and a half minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks to all the witnesses. I know it's not easy to be talking about the issues you are facing.

I don't have much time, but my first question is for Ms. Reddy.

Ms. Reddy, as more Afghan nationals are arriving, what would you say about how they are settling into their new life in Canada? Are there any special needs the women or the youth have, or is there anything that you have seen in particular?

[Umashanie Reddy]

Yes. Basically, it's language assessment for some of the individuals.

However, having said that, I will say that a lot of them are very well educated. I find that some of the employment that has been offered is not suitable for them, because they are way above that in terms of education.

When it comes to the children and youth, a lot of them do speak English, but Dari and Pashto, of course, are what some of them speak as home languages. We do have school support in that respect, where the schools have a multicultural language support system for the children. We also have youth organizations that support them. We have settlement workers in schools who are immigrants and refugees themselves, and they will stay with the families and the children to ensure they are settled and integrated in the school system from a cultural and social integration perspective.

With the women, we're finding that they are very learned, and they want to go back to school. They want to continue studying here, especially the robotics students. They are superbly brilliant, and we're finding that a lot of private schools are definitely sponsoring a lot of the young girls who come in with special skills.

When it comes to supports, I think the children are very well taken care of, because we have a program when it comes to the English-language learning and support. We have an ESL program. They take their assessments and then we send them to language classes if it's needed. When it comes to the resources, the resources are fully developed for every stage in their settlement and integration journey, and we ensure that these resources are available to them, especially for the first year.

Thank you very much.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Okay.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

I'm going to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe for 75 seconds.

Please go ahead.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Reddy, we have to write a report and issue recommendations. With that in mind, do you feel Canada should have an emergency mechanism in place, especially at IRCC, to respond to humanitarian crises and react quickly?

This mechanism doesn't exist yet, and I believe it would allow us to help refugees from around the world during a crisis like the one in Afghanistan.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Ms. Reddy.

[Umashanie Reddy]

I totally agree.

When the Afghan situation unfolded in August, we created a generic email account from the ground. These were the settlement and service providers across the country. We received 2,500 emails from Afghan nationals who found our website link on the IRCC page, and they were emailing us. The IRCC created an account, and we forwarded these emails. That account is no longer operational, and they are continuing to email us.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Chair, if I may, I'd like to thank all the witnesses.

To all the witnesses, you have done a wonderful job. Please know that our hearts go out to you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

We will now go to Madam Kwan for 90 seconds.

Please go ahead.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

My question is for Mr. Sayed.

You mentioned that the IRCC is now asking you to fill in an additional 16 pages of forms.

Is that request coming after you held your second hunger strike in Ottawa?

[Ahmad Shah Sayed]

Yes, it is.

All of these documents and all of these emails will not end once we end the hunger strikes. I want to let the government know that we will not stop. That was not the first one and it won't be the last one.

[Safiullah Mohammad Zahed]

Yes.

[Ahmad Shah Sayed]

If there is no response and if they will not bring over our families, soon I will organize another bigger hunger strike, and we will continue unless someone gets in touch with us and finds a solution for our families.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

Mr. Zahed, why do think that is? Do you think it's actually a way of the government sending out this pleasurable response to your hunger strike? It's weird that they are asking for additional forms to be filled after six months.

[Safiullah Mohammad Zahed]

That's what we think when we have the Monday meetings with the IRCC. As soon as we started talking, we had to give them...not a warning, but we had to let them know that their officers are not doing their job. That's why they are losing track of our cases and we have decided to organize a hunger strike. As soon as we started talking about that, then the next day we got those emails. Everyone got six to seven emails.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Madam Kwan.

It's been a minute and a half.

I appreciate all your time.

On behalf of the members of the committee, even the ones who were not able to speak, thank you.

Ms. Reddy, I want to thank you and the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society, on behalf of the members, for all of the humanitarian work that you do.

Mr. Sayed and Mr. Zahed, thank you for your service to Canada. Your concerns are well heard by the members.

[Ahmad Shah Sayed]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you for appearing, and all the best to you.

Today I'm wearing green because I'm going to a Ramadan Iftar party tonight, and I will remember you and your families in the prayers.

[Ahmad Shah Sayed]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[Safiullah Mohammad Zahed]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to everyone for listening to us and giving us the time to present our problems here.

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate it.