QUESTION PERIOD — Foreign Affairs
Afghanistan Crisis
June 15, 2022
Senator Gold, many of us were relieved to see the British Parliament’s honest review of their process of withdrawal from Afghanistan, admitting it was a disaster and a betrayal of Afghans.
We, on the other hand, have suggested we could have acted with “greater prudence.” That would be to risk painful understatement. Our diplomats fled, Afghans were misled, abandoned and had their documents destroyed — not to mention their homes, families and lives — and some were left to be murdered by the Taliban. Not only did the evacuation fail, but so too has the transition and resettlement.
We have a plane landing tomorrow with a few hundred more Afghans. Why can we not get on top of this and do what we are morally obligated to do, which is to provide safe passage for those who protected and served our military?
Thank you for your question. I won’t repeat the answer of the minister who was with us earlier this week.
Canada is attempting to do the right and moral thing, and it is doing its very best under the difficult circumstances which were outlined there, including the issuing of visas and other related matters of countries bordering Afghanistan to which some of the Afghans to whom you referred have fled. But Canada is committed to doing whatever it can, it is doing the best that it can and will continue to do so.
Senator Gold, we are alone among our allies for not carving out an exemption for charitable work so that payments, direct or indirect, to Afghans do not violate the Criminal Code because we are somehow dealing with a terrorist state. Are we carving out an exemption or making a necessary change to the anti-terrorism law so that this situation can be avoided? What specifically are we doing?
Thank you for raising this. It is an important issue, but it is a complex one and it cuts across multiple government departments.
The Government of Canada is focused on finding a solution that will allow our important work in Afghanistan to continue. I am advised that the government is reviewing recommendations made to it in a special committee report that was recently released. It will respond as soon as possible.
The government has also received additional opinions from members of the legal community. These opinions add additional information for the government to consider as it looks for a medium- and longer-term solution to this problem.
