Thank you.
Honourable Chair, honourable vice-chairs, honourable members of the committee, thank you so much for allowing me this opportunity to be here and share my struggles of the past 10 months with you.
I would also like to take the opportunity to appreciate and thank the Canadian government and the Canadian people for opening their arms and receiving us with such warmth and love, for which we are all very grateful.
I would like to begin by telling you a little bit about myself and what I was doing in Afghanistan.
In 2010, when I finished studying at Harvard Law School, I had the opportunity to stay in the States, but I thought that in Afghanistan I could be more useful. I could make a difference to the lives of many people. I decided to go back to Afghanistan.
After some time I started my law practice. Very soon the firm that I started by myself was established as one of the best in the country. It was ranked internationally as the best law firm in Afghanistan.
In addition to the routine legal services that we were providing, we were doing so many wonderful things, because we believed in a better future for all Afghans. We were providing pro bono legal services to indigent people. At the same time my colleagues and I were very much focused on helping the next generation of lawyers, because we believed that a strong and better pool of educated lawyers would definitely make a difference in the country. That's why we were involved in so much training, by ourselves, to lawyers and to law schools. We were sponsoring different events. We were providing opportunities to the students in Afghanistan, and at the same time we were providing some internship opportunities for both female and male lawyers in the country.
Then there was a time when we saw that our dreams for a better Afghanistan were shattered. We saw that there was no hope. Not only that, but we found ourselves to be in danger. That is the time I heard about Canada's evacuation plan.
I got in touch with several people I used to work with. They were all very kind and supportive. They said that yes, of course, I and my people would fall under the definition of an “enduring relationship with the Government of Canada”, and I should apply as soon as I can.
We asked for the necessary recommendation letters. We got them very soon. I believe I applied around July 29, but I did not hear anything until we had this very dark day in the history of Afghanistan, August 15, where we could literally see that everyone could be persecuted by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
I started calling everyone I knew, but unfortunately no one was really in a position to do something. They were saying that they had done what they could. They had referred the issue to the relevant authorities, and hopefully we'd hear soon from them.
I was lucky that I had some very good friends in the United States who got me out of Afghanistan, for which I am grateful. Otherwise, I'm sure I would not be here today. They got me out with my extended family. We made it to Doha, and then from Doha we started again getting in touch with different embassies of Canada, and we made it on September 3 to Canada.
From the time I have been here I thought I could do what I really needed to do to save the lives of those who served in the Canadian mission in Afghanistan with me from 2013 until this very moment. Even as of now I receive emails from different vendors, landlords asking about different issues they have with the Embassy of Canada to Afghanistan. To this date, there is no progress from the government side.
In October I decided that I should take this issue to the media, so hopefully I could have some sort of attention and would get the desired results. I had an interview with Matt Galloway on CBC, which was heard by many people. Lots of people called me. They offered to help me in different ways—to a lot of them I say thanks.
Out of this, Kristin Taylor, from Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, heard it and she invited me. They offered to support me. I thank them, and I have been struggling.
I have been writing to many people, including many honourable members on this committee, some of whom have been extremely supportive, trying to raise a voice. The unfortunate thing is that, despite the fact that we have the best enduring relationship with the Government of Canada and we were publicly known for our relationship with the Government of Canada, my colleagues are still in danger. We have not heard anything from the IRCC.
I think I will stop here. I have a lot to share. I'm sure that during the questions....