As Canada prepares to welcome an influx of Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion, there are fears that the additional volume in refugee applications from Ukrainians could lead to further delays for Afghan refugees if the government doesn’t act.
As of March 4, Canada has only resettled 8,580 of the promised 40,000 Afghan refugees since August 2021, after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. At this rate, it would take another two years meet the target of 40,000 refugees.
"We have to do better. We have to troubleshoot where we’re running into complications on the ground," Warda Shazadi Meighen, a Toronto-based refugee and immigration lawyer, told CTV’s Your Morning on Tuesday.
Last week, Canada announced two new immigration streams for Ukrainians fleeing conflict: one program for Ukrainians wishing to stay in Canada permanently and another for those who want to come to Canada temporarily. Under the Canada Ukraine Authorization For Emergency Travel program, there won’t be a limit on the number of Ukrainians coming to Canada on a temporary basis.
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Shazadi Meighen says immigration processing services need to be properly funded to make sure that Canada can adequately respond to the crises in both Ukraine and Afghanistan. She pointed out that in 2015, it took just 100 days for Canada to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees.
"The Ukrainian refugee crisis warrants a very swift immediate response and the government should be commended for what it’s doing quickly and that’s the right thing to do," she said.
"In tandem, we need to make sure that there are enough resources so that other at-risk groups like Afghans are also being processed. But I believe we can do multiple things if we’re clever about our processes and our departments are well resourced," Shazadi Meighen added.
But Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has called the situation in Afghanistan "quite different" from what’s happening in Ukraine, saying that most of the displaced Ukrainians want to return home in the future.
"One of the big differences is the fact that the people who are fleeing Afghanistan, we’re planning to have them become Canadians and to live here forever. When you have a permanent resettlement process, that works into our annual levels planning to make sure that we’re prepared to resettle and set people up for success on a permanent basis," Fraser told CTV’s Question Period on Sunday.
Fraser also pointed ouxjmtzywt that, unlike Ukrainians who have safe passage towards neighbouring countries to the west of Ukraine, many Afghans have struggled to leave Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
"The Taliban … which is a terrorist entity under Canadian law, is not letting them leave," Fraser said. "We’re trying to work very hard with partners on the ground to facilitate safe passage so we can process them in a similar manner to we are for Ukrainians."
But Shazadi Meighen believes Canada can still improve the process for Afghan refugees if it can "cut the red tape and get quite creative." She says Afghan refugees have had to obtain referrals from third-party agencies to prove their refugee status.
"Those referrals are from agencies that are not as accessible to refugees," said Shazadi Meighen. "It creates additional red tape, additional processes for refugees to have to go through who are already in quite difficult situations.”
Canada could also work with its partners in Europe that have more of a presence in Afghanistan to process biometrics for refugees and move faster to help Afghans who have managed to make it to a safe third country, Shazadi Meighen added.
"There really has to be political will and an understanding of the urgency for the situation that these individuals are in," she said. " So, the focus is really to get creative, to find agile solutions and to have multiple things happening at the same time."
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In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S.-affiliated Afghans arrive at the Pristina International Airport in Kosovo on Oct. 16, 2021. (Sgt. Gloria Kamencik/U.S. Army via AP)
