Conservatives, advocates call on government to expand special Afghan immigration program

The Conservative Party and Afghan refugee advocates are calling on the federal government to expand the special immigration program meant to prioritize former employees of the Armed Forces or the Canadian government and their families.

Last week, the government said it was no longer taking new referralsand would beprocessing the last of the 18,000 applications to that program.

At a press conference on Thursday, Conservative immigration criticJasraj Singh Hallancastigated the government for not keeping the program open tomore applications. He saidseveral applicants his office has been in touch with have yet to receiveresponses fromImmigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Thedelays, Hallan said, arecausing "hardships" and threatening Afghans' lives.

"To put a cap on the numbers was unacceptable, in our opinion, in the first place," he said.

Hallan was joined at the press conference by a number of refugee advocates who echoed his argumentthat the government should extend the program. One of them wasSaeeq Shajjan, a lawyer who worked with the Canadian Embassy in Kabul.

Shajjan fled the Taliban last year. Hesaid a number of his colleagues in Afghanistan who applied to the special programnever received a response from the government, despite having documentation proving they had worked with the embassy.

"I do understand that it's not an easy process, it does require a lot of work," he said. "But at the same time, what I see and what I'm frustrated at is we did not receive any response for my colleagues."

Government says other programs still available

The special program was set up nearly a year ago, a few weeks before Kabul fell to the Taliban in August of last year. It's part of the government's overall commitment to settle 40,000 Afghan refugees in Canada.

Earlier Thursday, both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser were asked if they plan to reopen the program to accept more applications.

Neither gave a directanswer to the question and instead pointed to the difficulties the government is facing in getting refugees out of Afghanistan with the Taliban now in control.

WATCH: Trudeau responds to questions about closure of Ottawa's special Afghan immigration program

Trudeau responds to questions about closure of Ottawa's special Afghan immigration program

2 years ago

Duration 1:22

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government remains committed to resettling Afghan refugees but added the situation on the ground is complicated right now.

"The challenge right now is actually getting people out of Afghanistan, which the Taliban is not allowing for. It's extremely difficult to even process people in the country right now," Trudeau said.

Fraser's office said last week that there are other other avenues for Afghans who wish to come to Canada, such as ahumanitarian programand a programto help families offormer military interpreters who are already here.

But Hallan said those programs are also experiencing difficulties and backlogs.

"It is completely unacceptable that the government is throwing people from one bureaucratic mess into another," he said.

Hallan said he wants the government to work more closely with organizations on the ground and increase coordination with third-party countriesto help process and resettle more Afghans.