Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
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
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
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 4 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.