Canadian Afghan advisers sue government

Canadians who served the military in Afghanistan are suing the federal government for failing to rescue their family members from the Taliban, and alleging the government has been discriminatory in the way it treats Afghans compared with Ukrainians.

The federal government recently created a program to ensure families of Canadians who served as language and cultural advisers in Afghanistan are brought to safety.

But the criteria are so restrictive that the program doesn’t apply to some family members who were threatened because of their connection to Canada’s military efforts before the Taliban takeover. The government has also capped the number of principal applicants at 380. Two of the advisers filed a Federal Court application alleging the government provided “superior immigration benefits” to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their country beginning in 2022, compared with those provided to Afghans hoping to escape the Taliban takeover in 2021.

“We’re looking for the Ukrainian policy to be extended to anyone who needs it. Not just the Ukrainians,” said Nicholas Pope, one of the lawyers representing the advisers.

The advisers and their lawyers also want the government to admit that the vastly different approaches to the two crises violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Canada launched a special program that made an unlimited number of Ukrainian nationals and their families eligible to work or study in Canada while they seek refuge for up to three years. The families of the advisers, however, are still trapped in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries.