Citizenship and Immigration Committee on April 26th, 2023

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Nobody at the table here has. Okay.

What I would like to do is go through the.... Are you familiar with the recommendations of the Special Committee on Afghanistan we're studying here? Yes, okay.

Given your experience with the evacuation from Afghanistan and the report's findings, what advice or recommendations have you provided the government for the implementation of some of those recommendations, particularly with regard to special mechanisms to evacuate persons in emergent situations? Are those mechanisms being utilized in the situation in Sudan?

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

I'm happy to point the committee to a response about what we do in this sort of emergency situation when there is a crisis under way, as a matter of course. I believe our assistant deputy minister for consular and emergency matters appeared before this committee in the March session. I don't have the date, but the response she gave at the time about how we follow the procedures in place stands.

I'll refer to the response provided by our ADM for consular and emergency matters. Those procedures are certainly in place now, and our emergency watch and response centre is being staffed by qualified professionals, plus a number of volunteers from across the department who are responding to the crisis at hand.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you.

In the Toronto Star on April 23, there was a line in an article regarding the evacuation from Sudan that noted, “U.S. special forces evacuated six Canadian diplomats.” Is that correct?

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

I am not working in the consular emergency area. I cannot confirm the accuracy of a Toronto Star article reporting on what happened.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

It was more of a context question for my next one. If you had to look at an overall percentage or some other measure of capacity, how much is Canada reliant on peer nations' military capacity to assist in evacuations in situations such as Afghanistan's or the one we're seeing in Sudan?

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

I will offer the observation that military capacity is only one aspect of the response to an emergency evacuation situation. It is not only military capacity that we bring to bear. There's an awful lot of diplomacy involved in negotiating with host nations, partner nations and partners on the ground to ensure the safe passage of people, because in the case of an emergency situation, it's unpredictable, and people will find their own ways to cross borders and may be unsafe. We never recommend for Canadians to put themselves in harm's way, but we try to help at every stage. The military response is only one aspect.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I understand that diplomacy plays a part in it, but I'm speaking about the actual physical act of removing people from the country, which requires resources like aircraft or requires securing an airfield. That does require military capacity, and that's the intersection point, of course, with your diplomatic efforts.

Right now, in terms of diplomacy—particularly given learnings from Afghanistan—how much is Canada relying on other peer nations' military capacity to physically evacuate persons, even based on your diplomatic efforts? How much of our diplomatic efforts right now are also being spent on persuading peer nations to use their military capacity to evacuate Canadian citizens?

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

I'd refer to my previous response in that I believe the military response, the military capacity or that aspect of evacuation is really only one part of the response. It is not only this mechanism that is used. I'm afraid that I'm not able to respond by estimating a percentage of reliance upon other nations.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

As you are some of the persons who have a responsibility for that diplomatic capacity, do you find that Canada's lack of military capacity in the actual physical evacuation component—either in Afghanistan or, as we're seeing now, in Sudan—is problematic? Does that provide an additional barrier to evacuating Canadians quickly in a situation like this?

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

Again, it's very difficult to comment on aspects of the situation that are not under the mandate of Global Affairs Canada.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I'll ask it another way.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Ms. Rempel Garner, but your time is up.

We will now proceed to Mr. Dhaliwal.

Mr. Dhaliwal, you will have six minutes. Please begin.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would like to welcome the officials to this committee meeting.

Along with many of my constituents from Surrey—Newton, I am concerned about women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan. I would like to ask the officials if they can speak about some of the challenges that women and girls are facing in Afghanistan and about the restrictions and hurdles they currently face. What are we doing to overcome those?

My second question will be related to minorities. Many people from different faith groups have come to me and said that the places of worship of people with Christian, Sikh and Hindu faiths are being bombed by the Taliban. I would like to see comments in regard to minority rights in those situations and also when it comes to not only ethnicity but also sexual orientation.

[Christopher Gibbins]

Thank you for the question.

The issue of women's and girls' rights and minority rights is a deeply distressing one, as the minister mentioned during the previous session. The Taliban have been very systematic and continue to be very systematic about their erosion of all rights and the erasure of women from Afghan society. That includes restrictions on movements and access to education and jobs, not least of which most recently has meant the banning of women from working with international and national NGOs as well as most recently with the UN.

As we heard in the previous session, the UN is very actively engaged with us and all international donors in seeking a reversion of the edicts that the Taliban have decreed. It is an extremely challenging environment and it's very difficult to say where that's going to take us, but the engagement remains very committed and focused on those rights. At the same time, there's also a real acknowledgement of fundamental basic humanitarian needs and the need for those to be seen to or addressed, to the best of our ability, regardless.

In terms of minority rights, the Taliban have not followed through on their commitments on that front either. The most egregious attacks on minorities have been conducted by other terrorist organizations, mostly notably the Islamic State. The Taliban is not doing a terribly good job at containing the Islamic State or other terrorist organizations, and those communities also remain vulnerable.

Perhaps I'll stop there.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

I would like a sense from the officials of what our government has done over the past 18 months or so that has impacted the lives of women, girls and minorities when it comes to delivering humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

[Stephen Salewicz]

As I mentioned in previous interventions, Canada has been a significant donor to humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan. Our focus has been on food security and responding to the needs of the most vulnerable. Because of the nature of the repression of women and girls in Afghanistan, they are, indeed, among the most vulnerable. The assistance we provide through our humanitarian partners is focused on responding to their specific needs.

As I mentioned, food security is one of those needs. We also support significant funding for medical assistance to maintain medical facilities and the delivery of medical services for the population, but it is particularly focused on women's and girls' needs.

In addition, we have significant programming in place to procure internationally therapeutic food for children who are facing malnutrition. The most vulnerable families in Afghanistan face incredible challenges in maintaining the nutrition of their children. The support the Canadian government provides in procuring and distributing these life-saving therapeutic foods is important for supporting the most vulnerable.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

I would also like to know what other work the department is doing in coordinating with some of the other countries.

[Christopher Gibbins]

Canada is very much among the international donors as well as a part of the special representative and special envoys group and the discussions that take place. We have our special representative based in Doha, where about 17 or 18 other counterparts are based. They meet regularly among themselves and with the UN and implementing partners. They meet as required and in smaller groups with the Taliban to convey particular messaging. They also interact with a range of other Afghan counterparts, including women's rights defenders. There's a coordination—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Mr. Gibbins, but the time is up for Mr. Dhaliwal.

We will now proceed with Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe for six minutes.

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, you are up next.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the department officials for being here to participate in this important study. I also thank them for their work. They have my admiration, as the work of the department must not always be easy.

I would like to ask a question that the witnesses will have no difficulty answering.

As we know, Canadian non-governmental organizations can no longer do their work on the ground in Afghanistan because the Criminal Code considers the Taliban a terrorist entity.

As a result of the fall of Kabul, has the department had to terminate any of its contracts with Canadian non-governmental organizations?

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

My colleague Ms. Segal is probably in the best position to answer this question.

I will translate the question into English, for the benefit of my colleague.

[Nancy Segal]

That won't be necessary, as I understood it well.

Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe, thank you for your question.

There are obviously constraints imposed by the Criminal Code, but there are certain steps that can be taken to avoid them. In fact, that is what the government has done with respect to humanitarian assistance.

I am not privy to that. I'm on the counterterrorism policy side. I know that with regard to our assistance, mitigation measures were put in place that allowed for our assistance to continue.

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

I believe that our colleague Mr. Salewicz is in the best position to answer this question.

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

All right.

However, I don't think anyone understood the meaning of my question; maybe it's because of the language.

Madam Chair, I would like to not lose any of my speaking time because of this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Do you want to restart? We'll add a little time. That's fine.

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, continue please.