Two immigration lawyers say there is an unfair difference in how the Canadian government treats refugees from Afghanistan versus how it treats refugees from Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced a special program for Ukrainians attempting to emigrate to Canada, called the Under CUATE, there won鈥檛 be a limit on the number of Ukrainians coming to Canada temporarily.
This program will enable Ukrainian nationals to apply for a free visitor visa that will allow them to stay in the country for three years as opposed to the standard six months - and they can also apply for open work permits and study permits, free of charge.
鈥淭his is basically how all immigration programs should be for everyone,鈥 Cassandra Fultz, a Toronto-based immigration lawyer, told CTVNews.ca.
鈥淏ut instead, it really is night and day if we talk about the programs for Afghanistan鈥檚 refugees.鈥
, Canada has only resettled 8,580 of the promised 40,000 Afghan refugees since August 2021, after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. It is estimated that it would take another two years to meet the federal target of 40,000 refugees.
for Afghan nationals requires candidates to not be in the country, be part of groups like women leaders or human rights supporters, and qualify as refugees, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
鈥淧eople applauded the Canadian government for quickly instituting measures to help Afghan refugees back in August 2021,鈥 said Maureen Silcoff, an immigration lawyer based in Toronto, in an interview with CTVNews.ca.
鈥淭he problem with that system, though, is that they鈥檙e not accessible to many people. Many people have applied and remain in limbo, often in dangerous conditions. Too many people have been asked to wait, but they can鈥檛 wait.鈥
There is a for Afghan nationals who assisted the Canadian government, such as interpreters who worked with the Canadian Armed Forces or local staff who currently or used to work at the Embassy of Canada to Afghanistan.
But according to Silcoff, candidates eligible for this program are dealing with long waiting times while their lives are in danger.
鈥淚鈥檓 assisting someone who is basically stuck in hiding, and they applied in August 2021 for these immigration measures. The person worked as a security guard for the Canadian Embassy in Kabul,鈥 she said.
鈥淎nd they got auto-reply after auto-reply. And as recently as last week, they received threats from the Taliban, that they know that they鈥檙e working for the West and that essentially, their lives are at risk.鈥
The security guard鈥檚 application has remained pending since August, with no updates as to when he and his family will receive assistance.
Fultz says that the red tape required for Afghan nationals to enter Canada, including their needing a UNHCR refugee status, differ drastically from what is being required of the Ukrainian nationals.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not coming in as refugees at all, but rather get a visitor visa plus situation,鈥 she said.
鈥淲e have had many people from Afghanistan contact our office after the disaster happened at the end of summer last year 鈥 Everyone is saying the Taliban wants to kill me. They want to kill my family. And it鈥檚 absolutely terrible.鈥
鈥淭he worst thing is, there鈥檚 not much we can really do for them.鈥
Fultz said that even if her clients meet the requirements of the program, only 40,000 people will be accepted -- which is a finite number of people who can benefit from the program, as opposed to the no cap requirement for Ukrainian nationals.
Maryam Masoomi is one of the 200 women from Afghanistan who were able to safely enter Canada under the humanitarian program and now calls Saskatoon her home.
But the process was anything but easy.
鈥淚t was the scariest experience of my life,鈥 said Masoom. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sure we鈥檇 make it out alive.鈥
Masoomi was a student at the Marefat School in Kabul, which champions education for women. A talented singer, she was the leader of a group of around 200 singers.
Her team received assistance from , an organization dedicated to evacuating women from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Masoomi was able to secure a Canadian visa one month after she applied. She drove 12 hours to Mazar-i-Sharif, a city in northern Afghanistan. But she couldn鈥檛 find a flight out of the country for two weeks and eventually returned to Kabul.
From there, Masoomi and her group took a four-hour journey to Jalalabad, west of Kabul, and then 2.5 hours to the border with Pakistan, where they crossed over. While en route, she was stopped by members of the Taliban and questioned.
鈥淚 was crying 鈥 I thought they were going to kill us all,鈥 she said.
However, they were let go and allowed to continue on their journey. Once in Pakistan, they completed their biometrics and health requirements to enter Canada.
A month later, her group of 200 women boarded a flight to Calgary that eventually led them to Saskatoon.
鈥淭he paperwork and biometrics were hard work. It took too long. We asked if we could do our biometrics in Canada, but they did not accept this,鈥 she said.
Masoomi says, despite all the hardship, her group got lucky. She says that she knows another group of dancers who are still in Pakistan waiting to hear back from the Canadian government about their papers.
Peter Liang, a communications advisor with the IRCC, said that Afghanistan is a country in which the government of Canada has no military or diplomatic presence and that Canada鈥檚 usual international partners are unable to provide typical logistic support and arrange travel.
鈥淲e continue to work with local authorities to resettle individuals to Canada as quickly as we can, but our ability to do so is also impacted by whether and how quickly we get exit permits and the availability of flights to Canada,鈥 he said via email.
According to Liang, the IRCC currently has 13 open and accessible Visa Application Centres (VACs) throughout Europe, including but not limited to: Moldova, Romania, Austria and Poland.
Additional biometric capacity has been added to the Visa Application network and missions in Warsaw, as well as Vienna and Bucharest.
This is one of the reasons why it is easier for Canada to coordinate with Ukrainian nationals.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very disheartening that there are creative measures when a country is on the world stage, and there is popular support for a response to them,鈥 said Silcoff.
鈥淏ut, what happened to the people who are hiding in Kabul because they work for the Canadian government, and there is no program that鈥檚 commensurate with the realities on the ground?鈥
A new round of airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs late Sunday as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region. Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque in Gaza killed at least 19 people.
A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.
'Eat more vegetables,' doctors and dietitians say over and over. But for many people, it鈥檚 hard to do, because they aren鈥檛 excited about veggies or just don鈥檛 like them.
People across Florida were given notice Sunday that Hurricane Milton is intensifying rapidly and will likely be a major hurricane before slamming midweek into the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.
A 54-year-old inmate at the Toronto South Detention Centre has been charged in connection with a deadly jail beating late last week that claimed the life of a 69-year-old prisoner.
Christopher Ciccone, a multihyphenate artist, dancer, designer and younger brother of Madonna, has died. He was 63.
The people of Fort Chipewyan believe the federal government knew its water was contaminated and hid the issue for years. Now the chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is leading the call for immediate action.
New data raises questions about the drinks people consume and the potential risks associated with them, according to researchers at Galway University in Ireland, in partnership with Hamilton鈥檚 McMaster University.
A man parked a minivan in front of Vancouver City Hall Sunday evening and set it ablaze, according to police.
A man stole a police car and drove it onto the field of an East Vancouver park Sunday morning, placing 鈥渄ozens of bystanders in harm鈥檚 way,鈥 according to police.
All that was left of a downtown Langley restaurant Sunday was a pile of rubble behind a blue fence, after a massive fire tore through it the morning before.
A man has been rushed to the hospital with serious injuries following a stabbing in Toronto鈥檚 Weston neighbourhood on Sunday night.
A 54-year-old inmate at the Toronto South Detention Centre has been charged in connection with a deadly jail beating late last week that claimed the life of a 69-year-old prisoner.
The Archbishop of Toronto is among 21 new cardinals Pope Francis named Sunday and the lone new cardinal from North America.
There were dueling rallies at city hall Sunday in advance of the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
CTV producer Cynthia Roebuck has been to the Run for a Cure before, but Sunday, she had a different perspective on the popular event.
An investigation is underway into a fire and explosion that took place Saturday night in northeast Calgary.
A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.
The Carleton Ravens came within a field goal of their first Panda Game victory since 2017, but ultimately came short of breaking the University of Ottawa Gee Gees winning streak on Sunday.
Ontario Provincial Police say a man has died after striking obstacles on the St. Lawrence River while driving a personal watercraft.
Alexandre Look, a 33-year-old Montreal native, was among the concertgoers who were murdered a year ago Monday at the Supernova music festival during a brutal assault on Israel carried out by Hamas militants. He is among at least eight people, either Canadian citizens or with ties to Canada, who died during the Oct. 7 attacks.
Monday marks one year since the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
A man was taken into custody Sunday after a woman was found dead in a home on Montreal's South Shore.
Alberta RCMP say there is no active shooter in the Buffalo Lake M茅tis Settlement.
If you're feeling overwhelmed by an overbearing fruit tree or a kale patch that just won't quit, here are some ways to make your fall haul more manageable.
Monday is the first anniversary of the Hamas attack in Israel that killed 1,200 people and sparked a war that has since spread beyond the borders of the Gaza Strip.
Bernie Hicks, known as the 鈥楤atman of Amherst,鈥 always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.
RCMP in Sussex, N.B., are asking the public for help locating a missing 61-year-old woman from Wards Creek, N.B.
The eight sons of Richard and Sarah Harvie from Gormanville, N.S., are believed to be the most siblings from one family, from either North America or the British Commonwealth, to serve in World War II.
Some Manitobans are cleaning up Sunday morning, after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province Saturday.
An annual vintage sale known as 鈥淎rt from the Attic鈥 returned to St. Vital Centre Sunday, with thousands of collectibles and art pieces on display.
For the 52nd week, pro-Palestinian protesters rallied in Winnipeg, calling for peace in the Middle East amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Saturday was not an ideal fall day for the residents of southern Saskatchewan 鈥 as winds reaching highway speeds were reported.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have clinched a playoff spot thanks to a win over the Edmonton Elks.
Saskatchewan's two major political parties made campaign stops in Moose Jaw Saturday with both promising to invest into the city if elected on Oct. 28.
According to police, officers responded to reports of a stabbing in the area of Victoria Street North and St. Ledger Street around 5:30 a.m. Sunday.
In a display of strength and perseverance, a Cambridge, Ont. resident has completed a unique aquatic challenge.
Emergency services were called to the area of Stone Road West and Chancellors Way around 1:20 a.m. Sunday for a report of a single motor vehicle collision.
A permanent memorial at the site of the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash is about to be a step closer.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have clinched a playoff spot thanks to a win over the Edmonton Elks.
The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation hosted a virtual election forum on education Thursday evening, giving candidates in the provincial election a chance to share their thoughts and answer questions on issues teachers find most important.
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.
According to a survey on recent alcohol consumption, younger Canadians are more likely to have not had a drink in the past week. For those interested in slowing or stopping their alcohol consumption, there's a phrase: 'sober curious.'
Hundreds of people are gathering today in cities across Canada to remember the victims of Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the hostages that have still not yet made it home.
Tears were shed and emotions ran high at the 33rd annual CIBC Run for the Cure in downtown London, Ont. on Sunday.
The London Knights continue to get players back from NHL training camps but while the roster takes shape, wins have been tough to come by in the early season.
People across Florida were given notice Sunday that Hurricane Milton is intensifying rapidly and will likely be a major hurricane before slamming midweek into the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.
Lakehead University's Orillia Campus hosted the 2024 NASA Space Apps challenge this weekend, which allowed teams of students, mentors and scientists to brainstorm solutions for global issues using real-world NASA data.
Fire crews are investigating a Saturday evening fire at a barn in Oro-Medonte.
The first Sunday of October was also the first Sunday of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which meant hundreds wore pink and attended the two CIBC 'Run for the Cure' events in the region.
This morning just before 7:00 a.m., OPP responded to a collision in which a vehicle struck a pedestrian on the roadway.
The event serves as a pivotal platform for open-class boxers from across Ontario to compete for provincial titles and the opportunity to advance to the Canadian National Championships.
Bubi鈥檚 Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.
NDP Leader David Eby promised Sunday to support police in British Columbia to keep illegal guns off the streets and protect communities, but accused B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad of planning to make the province less safe.
The calculus of predicting an election and identifying its key battlegrounds is complex enough in any race, but observers of the British Columbia poll this month are facing a pair of unknown quantities that make the math even more confounding.
Police on Vancouver Island have made an arrest in the case of a 78-year-old woman found dead in her home almost two years ago.
Nearly two years after a man was stabbed to death in downtown Kelowna, RCMP have made an arrest in the case.
NDP Leader David Eby is promising to offer a $75-million loan forgiveness program to entice doctors, nurses and heath professionals to expand health-care services in rural British Columbia.
Three young suspects have been arrested in connection with a swarming attack on a teenager in B.C.'s Okanagan last week 鈥 and authorities have asked the public to stop circulating disturbing videos of the incident.
While the summer may be over, construction season in Lethbridge is not.
Lethbridge police executed dozens of warrants and laid numerous charges in another targeted enforcement project in the downtown area.
A person was airlifted to hospital following a serious crash in Taber, Alta., on Friday morning. Taber RCMP responded to the scene on Highway 864 around 10:30 a.m., for a crash involving an SUV and a semi-truck.
As part of an ongoing investigation, provincial police are seeking the public鈥檚 assistance in locating a Kubota tractor stolen in North Shore Township, Ont., last month.
A 33-year-old man was arrested Saturday for allegedly spraying bear mace at three individuals in northwestern Ontario.
A drug raid on a home on the Far North Attawapiskat First Nation last week resulted in two local residents being charged and more than $50,000 in suspected narcotics, including methamphetamine, being seized.
He may not have logged the fastest time or even gone the full distance, but residents of a Newfoundland town agree the goat who unexpectedly joined the local weekend half marathon was the event's undisputed champion.
A mother in a community where the cost of living is one of the highest in the country says grocery prices are 'inhumane' and retailers are putting profits ahead of people鈥檚 basic human right to food.
A soccer game in England on Tuesday night drove a spike in online traffic across the Atlantic to a website launched by the Newfoundland and Labrador government.
Bernie Hicks, known as the 鈥楤atman of Amherst,鈥 always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.
Bubi鈥檚 Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.
Some Manitobans are cleaning up Sunday morning, after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province Saturday.
Avry Wortman, 13, scored two touchdowns on Sunday during her team's win in the under 14 Greater Moncton Football Association.
A gargantuan gourd 鈥 affectionately named 鈥極rangina鈥 by the urban gardeners who grew it in the front yard of their Vancouver home 鈥 earned the massive honour of being named B.C.鈥檚 heaviest giant pumpkin Saturday.
Chantal Kreviazuk is set to return to Winnipeg to mark a major milestone in her illustrious musical career.
From the beaches of Cannes to the bustling streets of New York City, a new film by a trio of Manitoba directors has toured the international film festival circuit to much pomp and circumstance.
A husband and wife have been on the road trip of a lifetime and have decided to stop in Saskatchewan for the winter.
Justin Trudeau will travel to Laos later this week for the ASEAN summit, marking what his office says will be the first official visit of a Canadian prime minister to the Southeast Asian country.
In an interview with CTV鈥檚 Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, airing Sunday, Cohen said that despite the failed attempt at a pause, he still believes a ceasefire is possible.
On Saturday, tensions rose again between Quebec and Ottawa at the Coalition Avenir Qu茅bec (CAQ) political conference in Saint-Hyacinthe.
Rwandan health authorities will begin a vaccine study against the Marburg hemorrhagic fever, officials said Sunday, as the East African country tries to stop the spread of an outbreak that has killed 12 people.
Bruzzese came down with COVID-19 in February 2023, and received her injection at the end of March. 鈥淏eing able to recognize smells is something we take for granted, until you can鈥檛.鈥
New data raises questions about the drinks people consume and the potential risks associated with them, according to researchers at Galway University in Ireland, in partnership with Hamilton鈥檚 McMaster University.
Scientists announced on Thursday a milestone in neurobiological research with the mapping of the entire brain of an adult fruit fly, a feat that may provide insight into brains across the animal kingdom, including people.
For humans, flashing a smile is an easy way to avoid misunderstanding. And, according to a new study, bottlenose dolphins may use a similar tactic while playing with each other.
Alphabet's Google is testing showing check marks next to certain companies on its search results, a company spokesperson said on Friday, in a move aimed at helping users identify verified sources and steer clear of fake websites.
Christopher Ciccone, a multihyphenate artist, dancer, designer and younger brother of Madonna, has died. He was 63.
Donald Glover has cancelled the remaining dates of Childish Gambino鈥檚 North American and European tour.
'Joker: Folie a Deux' is the No. 1 movie at the box office, but it might not be destined for a happy ending.
Financial strain can be an uncomfortable burden to bear, especially if you feel that you're doing as much as you can and are barely managing to stay afloat. Personal finance contributor Christopher Liew shares some tips for managing financial stress and digging your way out of debt.
Yugali Bharote starts her day in the kitchen, preparing lunch boxes for her sons bound for school 鈥 but she doesn鈥檛 stop there. She then prepares almost a dozen lunch boxes for customers who have subscribed to her homemade meals.
Dubai's Emirates airline has banned pagers and walkie-talkies from its planes, following last month's attacks on such devices carried by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
'Eat more vegetables,' doctors and dietitians say over and over. But for many people, it鈥檚 hard to do, because they aren鈥檛 excited about veggies or just don鈥檛 like them.
Travelling on a budget can be stressful, but there are ways you can ensure you're getting the best deal on flights as the holiday season approaches.
A five-seat sushi counter located inside another restaurant is the latest Vancouver eatery to receive a Michelin star.
The Carleton Ravens came within a field goal of their first Panda Game victory since 2017, but ultimately came short of breaking the University of Ottawa Gee Gees winning streak on Sunday.
Of the 32 NHL head coaches standing behind benches at the start of last season, 12 are no longer in the same role 鈥 including the retired Rick Bowness.
Vanderbilt takes down AP poll No. 1 Alabama 40-35 in historic college football victory.
New data from the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) shows that even though claims for auto theft dropped in the first half of 2024 compared to their 2023 peak, the rates of reported theft remain well above those of years prior.
Tesla is recalling more than 27,000 Cybertrucks because the rearview camera image may not activate immediately after shifting into reverse, the fifth recall for the vehicle since it went on sale late last year.
A Pickering, Ont., student going to college to be a mechanic is shocked the engine in his two-year-old car will not be repaired under warranty after the dealership claimed he had been 'over-revving' the engine.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at 麻豆影视. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop.聽Read about us.
