In one of the latest disappointments in Canada’s efforts to help Afghan refugees, a prominent Afghan activist has been denied her application for a temporary resident permit, apparently due to a bureaucratic error.
Bessa Whitmore and Sharen Craig have worked for seven months to bring Farzana Adell Ghadiya to safety in Ottawa.
As godparents, they had agreed to open their home to Ghadiya and ensure her safety once she was able to travel to Canada.
For more than a decade, Ghadiya fought for women’s rights in Afghanistan, starting schools and working with the United Nations. She is also Hazara, an ethnic minority targeted by the Taliban.
Ghadiya was forced to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban took power in August 2021 and is waiting in a third country for Canada to take her in.
But in a bureaucratic mess, his application for a temporary residence permit was assessed as a visa application and rejected.
“It was really disappointing for me, but I have a lot of support from the Canadian people,” Ghadiya told CTV National News.
Its sponsors say the rejection was the result of government negligence.
“Someone didn’t read the request, or it was checked by a machine,” Whitmore said. “I suspect someone just didn’t watch it carefully because she was rejected for something she didn’t apply for.”
Women and women’s rights activists from Afghanistan have been identified by Canada as a refugee group vulnerable to Taliban reprisals. But now Ghadiya is back to square one in his quest to escape to Canada.
“She’s cared for, she’s loved and she’s in need, and she’s all alone,” Craig told CTV News.
Canada has yet to fulfill its commitment to welcome 40,000 Afghan refugees. Ghadiya’s rejection stings even more, as his sponsors see different treatment for a different group.
Since the fall of Kabul in August 2021, Canada has welcomed more than 21,000 Afghan refugees in 14 months.
But since January 2022, nearly 100,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Canada, most fleeing war – more than four times the number of Afghan refugees in less time.
Jenny Kwan, NDP MP for East Vancouver, told CTV National News that many “believe this practice is discriminatory.”
“The reality is this: the government is not offering the same or similar immigration measures for Afghans and they are being left behind.”
Immigration officials say Ghadiya can reapply.
They also say they will launch a new program to help more Afghans by eliminating the requirement for UN Refugee Agency status – but that program will not start until next October.