Canada, G7 urge 'all parties' to de-escalate in growing Mideast conflict
Canada called for "all parties" to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
A young Afghan woman who escaped to Canada last summer is desperately worried for her family members who did not make it out of the country and are now living in hiding.
Rukhshana Ahmidi, 22, worked as an interpreter for a Canadian doctor in Afghanistan and was able to escape the country on Aug. 15, the same day a suicide bombing hit the airport in Kabul.
Amid the confusion and chaos at the airport, Ahmidibecame separated from her family and eventually made it onto a flight, but without an update on the status of her loved ones.
Ahmidi, who now lives outside Toronto, only found out after landing in Kuwait that her family did not make it out of Afghanistan.
“I am much worried as every moment it is possible that they will [be] killed because they changed the house three times and are living in hiding places,” she told CTV National News.
“They are not allowed to go outside. It’s not humane for them.”
The same day Ahmidi left Afghanistan, her brother Rostum Ahmidi was beaten and arrested at the airport. A photo of his injuries shows large red contusions across his back.
“It was really hard for me: ‘What should I do? [I have] to be careful about myself, but I have to think about my brothers, my mom,’” she said.
“I was in shock and confused.”
Back in Kabul, the Taliban destroyed Rostum’s music shop, as the organization has banned music in the country. Ahmidi’s grandmother is in hiding and had to destroy her old police uniform, where she rose the ranks to become a sergeant.
The entire family is feeling the stress and anxiety of living in fear of the Taliban.
“I’m very depressed,” Ahmidi’s mother Eidmah said, translated to English. “I’m afraid the Taliban will come and arrest my son. I’m afraid they will kill us.”
Ahmidi said she is constantly awake at night concerned for her family’s well-being and is worried that the family’s connection to music may make them a bigger target.
“I am much worried, even tonight when my mom called at the middle of night,” she said. “I thought that something happened to my aunt or something happened to my brothers because he was signing.”
“If it continues, I’m sure that they will kill them, because they killed the cousin of my mother.”
Getting out of Afghanistan is extremely difficult, as refugees wait in line for hours and sometimes days for a visa that would get them to Iran and hopefully, from there, to Canada.
Canada has pledged to resettle 40,000 Afghan refugees in Canada, but has not provided a timeline for doing so. The government has brought in 6,860 refugees total through its immigration streams as of Jan. 12, according to government data.
Ahmidi said she emailed Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada asking for help with her situation, but has not heard back.
“I’m so thankful for the government of Canada that kept my life safe and I hope they help my family to reunite us, and also they could join with me because if I can not join with them, I’m sure that I can not continue my life,” she said.
“I need to be with my family because they need me. I was the only one that was supporting them and now there is not anyone to help them.”
With files from CTV National News reporter Heather Butts
Canada called for "all parties" to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
On Friday, the pop star released her 11th album and at 2 a.m. Eastern, she released "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology," featuring 15 additional songs.
The United States told the Group of Seven foreign ministers on Friday that it received 'last minute' information from Israel about a drone action in Iran, but didn't participate in the apparent attack, officials said.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.