The Media Roundup provides links to recent and archived articles, in both English and French, on immigration and diversity appearing in the national and local news. Some international content is also included. Articles are updated weekly.
CTV News – Treat Out Families as well as Ukrainian Refugees: Afghan Interpreters
Afghan interpreters who have made it to Canada say their family members fleeing the Taliban deserve the same treatment as Ukrainians escaping from Russian troops. At a parliamentary committee on Monday, they called on the government to allow their families into Canada as easily as Ukrainians. The interpreters complained their family members are stalled with stacks of forms and demands for travel documents that are difficult to obtain from the Taliban.
Global News – Afghan Refugees Approved for Canada Relocation Languish in Pakistan: ‘We Are Forgotten’
With the help of an NGO, journalist Ziar Khan Yaad was flown to Islamabad in September 2021, where he was invited to apply for Canada’s resettlement program for vulnerable Afghans. But he has remained there ever since. “(When we did our) biometrics, we were told that our flight will take within three weeks or up to one month. But now we have spent five months after the biometrics,” Yaad tells Global News.
CBC News – Government Backtracks on Plan for Online-only Asylum Applications
Less than a week after the government said it would require online submissions for all asylum seekers into Canada, the immigration minister’s office now says that will not be the case. According to a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, the government has dropped the idea — which was introduced in the budget tabled Thursday by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Globe and Mail – Former Afghan Embassy Guards Plead with Ottawa: ‘Please Don’t Forget Us’
More than 50 former Afghan security guards at the now-closed Canadian embassy in Kabul have produced a video pleading with Ottawa to swiftly issue them travel documents to escape Afghanistan as the Taliban hunt for Western collaborators. The video, sent to The Globe and Mail, shows the security guards at a safe house holding up signs saying, “We are not safe,” “We want evacuation” and “Please don’t forget us.” Others held up certificates of appreciation that had been given to them for their work safeguarding Canadian diplomats.
Globe and Mail – LGBTQ Ukrainians, Fearing Russian Attacks at Home and Discrimination in Shelters, Face an Uncertain Future
When a friend called Andrii Zarytskyi at 5 a.m., his voice shaking, to say the first bombs had dropped on their city of Mykolaiv, Mr. Zarytskyi didn’t believe him: The 32-year-old never thought he would witness a war in his lifetime. But as Russian forces drew closer, Mr. Zarytskyi, a gay man, understood he would have to run.
La Presse – Justin Trudeau ne voit pas d’iniquité dans le traitement
L’accueil de réfugiés afghans est « une grande priorité » pour le Canada, assure Justin Trudeau au lendemain des cris du cœur lancés par d’ex-interprètes ayant épaulé les soldats canadiens. Et à ceux qui critiquent la lenteur de l’opération en la comparant au rythme de l’accueil d’Ukrainiens, il répond que « chaque situation est différente ». Depuis la chute de Kaboul, le 15 août dernier, 10 605 Afghans qui ont voulu échapper au régime taliban sont arrivés en sol canadien. À titre comparatif, le Canada a ouvert ses portes à 11 084 ressortissants ukrainiens, dont des résidents permanents canadiens, depuis la semaine où l’invasion russe s’est mise en branle, dans la semaine du 21 février dernier.
