Evidence of meeting #124 for National Defence in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was evacuation.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Dean Allison Conservative Niagara West, ON
Okay. You're saying that any military sources they had were also incorrect in their assessment?
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
I'm not here to judge the level of their sources. I'm here to tell you that what was written in the article was inaccurate.
November 5th, 2024 / 5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Allison Conservative Niagara West, ON
Okay. I guess when we talk about operational priorities, the question I would have is about Canadian military interpreters who were left behind because they didn't have the resources to evacuate people. Would that be accurate?
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
First of all, since I'm answering your questions for the first time, I want to make sure you're also clear that the motion at hand has been outlined for you; the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus were part of the government policy, and that government policy was executed. I think we can agree on that.
Conservative
Dean Allison Conservative Niagara West, ON
Yes. I'm asking about the part of the motion that says that it was basically to the detriment of the evacuation of Canadians and allied Afghans.
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
As you can see here, that was the operation we were conducting, because they were part of the same group. It's not whether it was a detriment. It was the operation being conducted for all the folks in the policy.
Conservative
Don Stewart Conservative Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Minister Sajjan.
I want to ask you about the prioritization of the groups. After this Government of Canada press release on August 13, was there any kind of change in the prioritization of the various groups that were in Afghanistan and the vulnerable groups outside of the priority group?
Conservative
Don Stewart Conservative Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
This press release on August 13. Prior to that, we had prioritization on Canadian citizens, permanent residents, Afghan interpreters and fixers, and subsequent to that, adding vulnerable Afghans was a change.
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
That's a great question.
What you were referring to was the August 13 press release. That was what the then immigration minister.... I mentioned the letter that, hopefully, you will see afterwards, which was signed by 25 members of Parliament, including Conservative members of Parliament. I have to admit that the work of the foundation that you're talking about was with the Conservative Party. That's where it started first.
Yes, it was added on August 13 for the vulnerable groups.
Conservative
Don Stewart Conservative Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
Okay, but did it change the prioritization away from Canadians per se—and permanent residents, interpreters and fixers—to prioritize other groups?
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
As it clearly states in the press release, they were added to the special immigration status.
Conservative
Conservative
Don Stewart Conservative Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
Was JTF 2 sent outside the wire to collect any of these other groups or even Canadians and PRs that might have been in Afghanistan?
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
I'm not going to discuss JTF 2 operations, but I can tell you that they had all the authorities necessary to carry out the work that they deemed necessary on the ground. They also knew the vulnerabilities.
What I'm emphasizing here is that interpreters and their families also made it out. I had the pleasure of meeting some of them.
Conservative
James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB
Minister, did the Canadian Armed Forces at any point in time express any concern about the change in direction after August 13?
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
First of all, it was added to; it was not a change in direction. This was a government policy that was created at the behest of members of Parliament, and, to be honest, mostly from your party.
They were added on. The Canadian Armed Forces, as you know, do their work. They had a list, and they executed that policy.
One thing I can assure you is that when it comes to the people they work with, they did absolutely 110% to make sure they supported everyone in the evacuation.
Conservative
James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB
How well were you briefed, and what further direction did you provide after the evacuation started, and after the news release came on August 13? Between August 13 and August 27, when the evacuations ended, how involved were you in that?
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
When it comes to the list and the immigration measures, that's done through IRCC, but I'm—
Conservative
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
Of course. I'm trying to get to that.
Our job was to conduct the evacuation safely. That's what we were focused on. A lot of the questions about prioritization are things for IRCC to discuss. What we were doing was creating the environment for a safe evacuation.
Liberal
