As Canada prepares to welcome an inflow of Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia's invasion, there are fears that the extra quantity in refugee purposes from Ukrainians might result in additional delays for Afghan refugees if the federal government would not act.
As of March 4, Canada has solely resettled 8,580 of the promised 40,000 Afghan refugees since August 2021, after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. At this fee, it will take one other two years meet the goal of 40,000 refugees.
"Now we have to do higher. Now we have to troubleshoot the place we're operating into problems on the bottom," Warda Shazadi Meighen, a Toronto-based refugee and immigration lawyer, instructed CTV's Your Morning on Tuesday.
Final week, Canada introduced two new immigration streams for Ukrainians fleeing battle: one program for Ukrainians wishing to remain in Canada completely and one other for many who wish to come to Canada quickly. Beneath the Canada Ukraine Authorization For Emergency Journey program, there will not be a restrict on the variety of Ukrainians coming to Canada on a brief foundation.
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Shazadi Meighen says immigration processing companies should be correctly funded to be sure that Canada can adequately reply to the crises in each Ukraine and Afghanistan. She identified that in 2015, it took simply 100 days for Canada to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees.
"The Ukrainian refugee disaster warrants a really swift rapid response and the federal government needs to be recommended for what it is doing rapidly and that is the correct factor to do," she stated.
"In tandem, we have to be sure that there are sufficient assets in order that different at-risk teams like Afghans are additionally being processed. However I consider we are able to do a number of issues if we're intelligent about our processes and our departments are properly resourced," Shazadi Meighen added.
However Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has known as the scenario in Afghanistan "fairly totally different" from what's occurring in Ukraine, saying that many of the displaced Ukrainians wish to return house sooner or later.
"One of many large variations is the truth that the people who find themselves fleeing Afghanistan, we're planning to have them turn out to be Canadians and to dwell right here without end. When you might have a everlasting resettlement course of, that works into our annual ranges planning to be sure that we're ready to resettle and set folks up for achievement on a everlasting foundation," Fraser instructed CTV's Query Interval on Sunday.
Fraser additionally identified that, in contrast to Ukrainians who've secure passage in direction of neighbouring international locations to the west of Ukraine, many Afghans have struggled to depart Afghanistan beneath Taliban rule.
"The Taliban … which is a terrorist entity beneath Canadian legislation, just isn't letting them depart," Fraser stated. "We're making an attempt to work very arduous with companions on the bottom to facilitate secure passage so we are able to course of them in an identical method to we're for Ukrainians."
However Shazadi Meighen believes Canada can nonetheless enhance the method for Afghan refugees if it might probably "reduce the purple tape and get fairly artistic." She says Afghan refugees have needed to receive referrals from third-party businesses to show their refugee standing.
"These referrals are from businesses that aren't as accessible to refugees," stated Shazadi Meighen. "It creates further purple tape, further processes for refugees to should undergo who're already in fairly troublesome conditions.”
Canada might additionally work with its companions in Europe which have extra of a presence in Afghanistan to course of biometrics for refugees and transfer sooner to assist Afghans who've managed to make it to a secure third nation, Shazadi Meighen added.
"There actually must be political will and an understanding of the urgency for the scenario that these people are in," she stated. " So, the main focus is actually to get artistic, to search out agile options and to have a number of issues occurring on the identical time."
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