Afghan Interpreters, Others Fast-tracking to Canada

[The Bread Guy]

He'll wait a year for his family, when we can bring in 25,000 Syrians in 3 months to fulfill a political promise, instead of honouring a moral obligation to help someone and their family who helped us.

Yeah - it's a shame so many of them were turned away earlier on...

Dozens of interpreters who served as Canada's voice during the war in Kandahar, but then met silence when they tried to immigrate here, are now being allowed in.

More than 500 people applied under a special program set up in 2009 by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to recognize “Afghans who face extraordinary personal risk as a result of their work in support of Canada's mission in Kandahar.”

But two-thirds of those who applied were turned away by the time the program closed (September 2011) because the government said they didn't meet the qualifications ...

 

[PuckChaser]

Yeah, not a single party owns this, we screwed these people as a nation. I'd love to see the "qualifications" they required, its not like most of them could print off a CV or carry around reference letters from Canadian Sect Comd's....

 

[The Bread Guy]

Yeah, not a single party owns this, we screwed these people as a nation.

Too true  - the last mob had a chance to do it better, so let's see if this mob can do any better ...

 

[dapaterson]

Froggy has received his Canadian citizenship.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/afghan-interpreter-mohammad-froggy-rahman-canadian-citizenship-1.3562801

 

[Journeyman]

Froggy has received his Canadian citizenship.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/afghan-interpreter-mohammad-froggy-rahman-canadian-citizenship-1.3562801

If we swapped him for Steve Nolan, we're definitely ahead on the deal.    >

 

[jollyjacktar]

Very happy to read that.  What the UK is doing is shameful.  UK Deporting Terps

 

[The Bread Guy]

Yup -- shared under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) ...

Feds must help Afghan interpreters who worked with Canadian troops

For the brave Afghan interpreters who served Canada with valour, I hate to break the bad news.

But we can’t offer false hope.

It’s not looking good for many of you who want to come to Canada since the Trudeau government says it has no plans to reinstate a special program for interpreters.

Or introduce anything new to replace it.

The e-mail from Ottawa was like a punch in the gut. Imagine how the interpreters are going to feel?

“The government recognizes that these brave and courageous Afghans who worked for us made a significant contribution to our mission, and saved Canadian lives,” said Remi Lariviere, of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

I just knew there was a “but” coming.

“The Afghan Special Immigration Measures began accepting applications in October 2009 and even though the program stopped receiving applications in September 2011, there was a review of files and the granting of permanent resident status to successful applicants which continued through to 2013,” he said. “Over 800 Afghan nationals, including eligible family members, were resettled to Canada under the initial policy and its successor.”

There are less than 100 still stuck there under incredible duress. I want them all out on one plane.

“Afghans who were ineligible under the Afghan Special Immigration Measures may apply to immigrate to Canada through existing provisions under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, such as the economic or family class,” said Lariviere.

Easy for them to say.

“Those not meeting immigration criteria under an existing immigration class can request humanitarian and compassionate consideration. Such applications would be considered on a case-by-case basis,” he added.

How about every case since the Taliban wants to kill anybody who wore a Canadian uniform!

We should not treat our warriors this way. And you can’t just walk into embassies there or go online at a wireless coffee shop.

I have a suggestion for the Liberal government, which seems to have endless resources for Syrian refugees and countries all over the world. Perhaps, they could appoint someone to shepherd through the final few heroic interpreters and their helpless and frightened families?

“Since the Afghan Special Immigration Measures have ended, no individual officer is assigned to review applications received from any Afghan national who may have worked to provide direct support to the Canadian government in Kandahar, and there are no plans to do so,” said Lariviere.

Hopefully, the Taliban won’t be offering a better deal.

The cost of one Trudeau family vacation could pay to get all of the people we are responsible for here! I would have traded that Canadian terrorist in Strathroy (I won’t say his name) for every one of those Afghans who served the Canadian Armed Forces.

What happens to those people left in limbo?

Ottawa may be closed on this summer weekend but over in Afghanistan, where there have been 100 innocent people killed in August, there’s no day off from terror.

Don’t blame Lariviere who is merely the messenger.

Instead, I am thinking of working to organize a protest on Parliament Hill. But I need some veterans to step up here.

Veterans who served with the interpreters. We got James Akam out of Germany and his family out of Afghanistan because Master Clp. Eric Kirkwood vouched for him and fought for him. Touched by the story, Immigration Minister John McCallum made it happen. We need to make it happen again.

Instead of bad news, we need more miracles.

Scrawler out.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Shameful, absolutely shameful of both the Conservatives and Liberals to not see the Terps done right by.

 

[PuckChaser]

Shameful, absolutely shameful of both the Conservatives and Liberals to not see the Terps done right by.

Easy fix now for the current government, but there's no photo ops in it. If we can bring 25k people in here in 3 months with a short vetting process, we can get 1 planeload of pers here in a week considering what they've done for us.

 

[sandyson]

The argument that we should not help the interpreters come to Canada because it would deprive Afghanistan of valuable talent is not consistent with Canada's policy of seeking only those people from other countries in immigration screening.  e.g. unrecognized foreign qualified engineers and doctors etc. come here and do menial tasks.
In order to get some of those left behind over here, there will have to be a focus on individuals, families and conditions.  A name--even if coded, can have associations made with it.  A bunch of people on the other hand remain just that: a bunch, gray, without boundaries or emotion.

 

[The Bread Guy]

And so we continue to wait ...

They are the forgotten.

Not by us, but by government, it seems.

“It is worthy to mention that we have been receiving life-threatening warnings through insurgents and (the) Taliban,” says Ahmad Hussain Haidery, an Afghan interpreter who has the paper work to show he spent three years on the battlefields in and around Kandahar with Canadian troops.

Now he can’t get anybody in government to respond to his inquiries.

“The reason we have served and worked shoulder to shoulder with Canadian Forces (was) for the purpose of ensuring security and improving Afghanistan,” he tells me. “Our great sacrifices, contributions and commitments have been forgotten and ignored.”

I didn’t want to believe this. I am starting to, though. And I don’t really know what to do about it.

My original approach was to not pester the new Liberal government too much because it inherited the issue and Ottawa has a vested interest in relocating up to 50,000 Syrian refugees. I was pretty sure our small contingent of Afghan interpreters and their families would be included in that.

I was encouraged when Immigration Minister John McCallum stepped up to get interpreter James Akam out of a refugee camp in Germany and on to Canadian soil this spring.

He is now reunited with his family and working and loving life in Calgary.

He’s an example of the interpreters who loved Canada and laid down their lives for our country.

The problem is there are still more that need to be rescued: Some in Germany and most in Afghanistan where they face a worsening situation ...

Since Team Blue didn't seem to get it, one hopes SOMEONE is briefing Team Red that how we treat people who helped our troops on the ground in the past will shape the decisions of those who might be able to help our troops on the ground (or not) in the future. 

 

[jollyjacktar]

And so we continue to wait ...Since Team Blue didn't seem to get it, one hopes SOMEONE is briefing Team Red that how we treat people who helped our troops on the ground in the past will shape the decisions of those who might be able to help our troops on the ground (or not) in the future.

I have almost ZERO faith in team Blue Red to do anything other than repeatedly shit the bed, overspend and dither.  I fear they will fail us too on this issue in the end.  (no good photo ops or UN good will to mine)

Thank you, good catch.  :-[    However, team Blue shit the bed on this one too and should hang their respective heads in shame evermore.

 

[PuckChaser]

You mean team red, jjt? Blue already crapped the bed on this issue.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Sadly, no shortage of bed shitting on this one

 

[dapaterson]

And, under the new US policy, their terps are being turned away:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/29/iraq-trump-travel-ban-service-america

Hayder accompanied US forces on highly dangerous patrols in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces from 2007 to 2010. He was one of the interpreters – often just called “terps” by soldiers and marines – on whom the US war effort relied, not only to communicate with locals but to identify threats.

Now, he feels the US is not interested in drawing that distinction. “I know that executive order [is] just racist,” Hayder said of Trump’s immigration ban.

Hayder began the paperwork for his visa in 2012 and finally got it in 2016. On 9 February, a plane will leave from Baghdad and arrive in Istanbul. Another plane will leave from there en route to Houston. When he exchanged emails with the Guardian on Saturday, ticket and visa in hand, he was waiting to hear from US officials that he would not be permitted to travel.

Hours after this story was published, Hayder was definitely informed by the US embassy in Baghdad that he will not be permitted to board his flight.

By his counting, Hayder survived eight improvised explosive device detonations. Death threats, much as Alkhafji received, came from Iraqis furious that he would work with the US. But Hayder doesn’t regret aiding the Americans, even when he had to move to Balad Air Base – once nicknamed “Mortaritaville” – to go home.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Here we go again ...

“Disappointing” and “unacceptable.”

That’s how federal Conservative leadership candidate Erin O’Toole describes the “terrible” response from Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen to an Afghan interpreter’s fear of assassination for serving Canada’s troops.

Karim Amiry, 28, now living in Kabul, Afganistan, served with Quebec’s Bulldog Company of the Royal 22nd Regiment from 2009-11. Taliban insurgents have threatened to kill him and Amiry now wants to come to Canada.

“Afghan Interpreter Karim Amiry feared for his life,” says O’Toole.

The Durham MP — a former veterans affairs minister, a lawyer and a one-time Canadian air force officer — knew what to do.

“I immediately hand delivered a letter to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and spoke to him about this case.”

It didn’t work.

“Weeks later, I received a truly disappointing response that indicates he does not take the matter as seriously as his predecessor,” said O’Toole.

In his Feb. 1 letter, O’Toole wrote: “Mr. Amiry, as one of the many Afghan interpreters seeking refuge in Canada, has received a threat letter from the Taliban. I now fear that Mr. Amiry’s life is at imminent risk because of his work for Canada.”

Instrumental in encouraging previous immigration minister John McCallum to bring Afghan interpreter James Akam from a refugee camp in Germany a year ago, O’Toole was looking for similar action ...

 

[jollyjacktar]

As I feared, Team Red will do sweet fuck all to help these Terps.  Sadly, I am not the least bit surprised at their lack of action.  Neither team has honoured promises made.  I'm embarrassed by them both.  Didn't Mr. O'Toole press the issue when was on the other side of the house?  Making noise from opposition when you failed to do so before is just as bad as those you're pointing fingers at.

 

[PuckChaser]

Tories screwed the pooch originally by just simply not doing anything, but I think its significantly worse when you campaign on being welcoming (and fast-tracking 50,000 Syrians) while snubbing your nose at these folks who did a great service to our country.

Much like Defense spending and VAC, all parties are to blame, but no one has the testicular fortitude to admit fault and fix it.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Much like Defense spending and VAC, all parties are to blame, but no one has the testicular fortitude to admit fault and fix it.

:nod:

 

[Kat Stevens]

The terps are most likely getting the cold shoulder because it's unlikely that they're future good Liberal voters.