Zahir Alizai is pissed off.
His household fled Afghanistan for neighbouring Pakistan earlier this 12 months and he is been making an attempt for months to deliver them to Canada as refugees however his makes an attempt have been unsuccessful.
He is considered one of many Canadians making an attempt to privately sponsor family members who left Afghanistan for neighbouring international locations following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul. However strict guidelines for particular person sponsors and limits on what number of refugees organizations can deliver over have left Alizai and others feeling discouraged.
“I have been making an attempt to be a law-abiding citizen on this nation and I have been working, I have been paying tax … However sadly when there’s a want, nobody is there to assist me, nobody is there to assist my members of the family,” the 40-year-old Toronto resident stated in a latest interview.
“I am actually pissed off, actually upset.”
The federal Liberal authorities initially promised to settle 20,000 Afghan refugees after which doubled that dedication to 40,000 throughout the election marketing campaign in September.
Refugees could be dropped at Canada by the federal government or by means of the Personal Sponsorship of Refugees Program, which permits residents, everlasting residents and sure organizations to sponsor newcomers supplied they’ll help the refugees with the funds wanted to start out a life right here.
However personal residents can’t sponsor those that don’t have United Nations refugee standing within the international locations they’re coming from, and organizations that sponsor refugees – referred to as sponsorship settlement holders – have caps on what number of newcomers they’ll deliver over.
In Alizai’s case, his household fled to Pakistan however they do not have U.N. refugee standing in that nation, which implies he can’t sponsor them as a person. A number of organizations which have agreements with the Canadian authorities to sponsor refugees yearly have advised him they haven’t any accessible spots for his household, he stated.
“Once I discuss to my sister or after I discuss to my brother and I see that they are crying, the scenario is admittedly powerful,” stated Alizai. “It actually affected me and affected my complete household.”
Alizai’s sister, her husband, their three youngsters and his youthful brother all left Afghanistan over fears of being killed by the Taliban since his sister was an activist and schoolteacher, he stated.
“They didn’t make that call simply. That they had your individual life, your individual household, I imply when it comes to a home, automobile, job, every little thing, however they left,” he says. “Their life was at risk.”
Stephen Watt, the co-founder of Northern Lights Canada, a non-profit that sponsor refugees, stated the federal authorities has not stated whether or not it would waive the requirement of U.N. refugee standing for Afghan newcomers.
“The data that we have all been ready for and hoping for, which can assist us do our work of privately sponsoring folks and serving to Afghans come to Canada, that data is simply not forthcoming,” he stated.
His group utilized to sponsor an Afghan household that does not have a U.N. refugee standing however has refugee playing cards issued by the Pakistani authorities about two months in the past.
“We simply utilized and we’re sort of hoping for the most effective. We can’t know till the applying is accepted or not accepted. And since the entire system is sluggish it could be six months, a 12 months earlier than we discover out,” Watt stated.
A spokesman for the federal immigration minister stated the federal government is accepting refugee registration playing cards issued in Pakistan as proof of refugee standing for Afghan refugees.
Alexander Cohen stated about 1,000 privately sponsored Afghan refugees have already arrived in Canada, together with 350 who landed in Toronto on Tuesday.
The federal government has allotted 10 extra sponsorship software areas to all of the organizations which have agreements with Ottawa to usher in refugees yearly, and can permit a few of these organizations to sponsor extra refugees within the close to future if they’re and have the capability, Cohen stated, noting that the Afghan resettlement program is proving more difficult than different ones.
“We have by no means designed and carried out a wholly new and distinctive immigration program, processed and vetted hundreds of functions after which evacuated hundreds of these folks from a warfare zone,” he stated. “There was no playbook that might merely be dusted off and carried out.”
Janet Dench, govt director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, stated her group has been calling on the federal government to drop the requirement of a UN refugee standing doc for these making use of to be sponsored as refugees by Canadian residents and everlasting residents.
“That is a extremely massive barrier,” she stated.
Dench stated the present scenario may be very irritating for individuals who need to assist Afghan refugees get to Canada and urged the federal government to offer specifics on its plans for the resettlement program, together with simply what number of privately sponsored refugees it would permit.
“It is a actually determined scenario and when you’re an NGO otherwise you’re a personal sponsor otherwise you’re a lawyer, all people’s asking you: How can I assist?” she says. “It is actually pressing that they make clear issues.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Dec. 23, 2021.
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