QUESTION PERIOD — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Sikh Refugees
December 7, 2021
Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.
Since 2015, Calgary’s Manmeet Singh Bhullar Foundation has been working to help Sikhs from Afghanistan escape religious persecution. To date, the foundation has gotten 650 members of Afghanistan’s small Sikh minority community to temporary refuge in Delhi, India, but most have been stranded there for years. There are currently sponsor families standing by in Calgary, Edmonton, Leduc, Kelowna, Chilliwack and other communities ready and willing to welcome these displaced people to Canada.
The Canadian government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the foundation to bring these Sikh refugees here. The foundation tells me that those who are waiting have passed security background and health checks. Yet, to date, only 74 have been admitted to Canada. While the Bhullar Foundation is grateful for all the assistance the government has provided, and hopeful that more families will arrive in Canada soon, can you please tell us why there have been so many delays in resettling this vulnerable population safely and what your government is doing to expedite their arrival now?
Honourable senator, thank you for your question. The largest and the most difficult hurdle in getting people out of Afghanistan remains, regrettably, the lack of safe, secure and reliable routes out of the country — a country controlled by the Taliban. Furthermore, countries in the surrounding region have established their own entry and exit requirements, and these have frequently changed since the end of the evacuation. Despite these difficulties, the government continues to work closely with international and regional partners to expand these operations. It has been expanding its partnership with the Manmeet Singh Bhullar Foundation in an effort to resettle those hundreds of persecuted Afghan Sikhs and Hindus. With regard to Sikh resettlement efforts in particular, I will have to report back to the chamber when I have more specific details.
Thank you very much for your response.
I want to emphasize that I’m not talking about a population of people who are within Afghanistan, although there are still Sikhs in Afghanistan looking for evacuation. I’m talking about the more than 600 people who have been in India, some up to five or six years, who have not been able to come here despite the fact that this memorandum of understanding has been signed. I’m hoping you might be able to shed some light on why this population, which has passed their security checks and health checks, is still stalled in India.
I will make inquiries and report back. Thank you.
