Parliamentary committee report slams government's handling of Afghan refugee crisis

A parliamentary report slams the government for its slow response in handling the Afghan refugee crisis while issuing recommendations on how it can help bring Afghans to Canada faster.

The Special Committee on Afghanistan report, released on Wednesday, outlines its 37 recommendations, which include allowing the minister to lift biometric and passport requirements, introducing special visas, establishing refugee sponsorship programs, and establishing air gateways if needed.

It also says Canada needs to be able to "surge resources" and reallocate personnel to embassies and departments in response to future crises, while calling on the government to establish a team to bring Afghans and hire more immigration staff to process applications for special immigration programs for Afghan nationals.

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan 10 months ago, more than 15,000 Afghan refugees have arrived in Canada -- still short of the federal government's commitment to bring 40,000 Afghans.

Canada's response to the crisis has been criticized for lacking efficiency. The special committee wrote that the government "should have compelled greater urgency and a more systematic policy and planning effort across the Canadian government to help people reach safety before it became much harder to do so."

"I want from the Government of Canada (to) immediately help me and immediately get me out from Afghanistan," said one former Afghan interpreter in an interview with CTV News.

Brian Macdonald, executive director of Aman Lara, a group dedicated to helping Afghan refugees reach Canada, believes the government should implement all 37 of the recommendations.

"Getting someone out of Afghanistan, it's just a question of logistics. We can make it happen. The biggest challenges are the bureaucratic obstacles," he told CTV News. "If we can find a way to do undocumented moves so that people can go without a passport and without a visa and just get directly out of the country, that's what we certainly support."

Nearly 20 million people in Afghanistan, or almost half the population, face acute hunger, according to the UN and many Afghans who worked for the Canadian military or embassy who remain trapped there.

Afghan lawyer Saeeq Shajjan had worked at the Canadian embassy in Kabul. He managed to flee to Toronto last August, but his staff is hiding in Afghanistan.

"I believe that the Government of Canada owes them. I owe them. They worked with utmost loyalty and professionalism to serve the Canadian mission, and now we see them to be in danger," he told CTV News.

Shajjan said one of the issues with the Canadian response to the crisis was that there was a lack of effective communication between the three government departments that were involved in the response, a point that was echoed by the special committee report.

This week, the NDP accused the government of losing 2,900 vetted applications from Afghans.

"(Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) cannot seem to find these files. As much as the parliamentary secretary and the government would like to say they are doing a great job, I am sorry to say they are not. Too many people have been left behind. They cannot even find their files. How is that even possible?" NDP MP Jenny Kwan said in the House on Tuesday.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser denied that there were any lost applications, but it is still unclear if those applications have been processed.

"There are no lost applications, and I don’t think it’s responsible to be framing things that way," he told reporters on Thursday.

The special committee recommends that one person should take the lead to reduce the red tape that vulnerable refugees are facing.

The report also calls on Canada to "pay its fair share" of humanitarian aid and assure Canadian organizations that are delivering aid in Afghanistan will not lead to prosecution under anti-terrorism laws, and reviewing those laws to ensure they don't restrict legitimate humanitarian action.

"I know the Government of Canada is concerned that money not go into the hands of the Taliban, and nobody in Canada wants to support a terrorist organization," Macdonald said.

The government says its commitment to bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada has not waivered, but so far, there's been no commitment to adopt any of these recommendations.

With files from The Canadian Press.