Maritime veterans still working to bring Afghan interpreters and their families to Canada
John Monaghan’s connection to Afghanistan has withstood the 13 years since his tour there.
The Nova Scotia man and his family keep in constant contact — daily — with a man he met there, who worked with the Canadian military. A man he refers to as “Mr. Jones,” to keep his identity hidden from the Taliban.
The Monaghan’s have been lobbying and fundraising to bring Mr. Jones, his wife, his four older siblings and their large families to Nova Scotia.
But he says, at this point, one year after the Taliban takeover of Kabul, they’re still in limbo.
“You can tell that he's worried, he's definitely worried about everything that's going on,” Monaghan said. “It's just really frustrating. They need to move these people out of danger and here to Canada, to safety.”
Aman Lara — Pashto for “Sheltered Path” — is an organization that was born after the takeover a year ago, to try and bring as many Afghan interpreters to Canada as possible.
Its executive director is New Brunswicker Brian Macdonald, who also served in Afghanistan. Macdonald says it’s become an urgent passion project for many veterans across the country.
“A year ago, we saw those terrible scenes of people getting crushed trying to leave Kabul. At that time, we thought the window had closed, we weren't going to be able to get any more people out. But in that year, we've doubled down, and we've now got 3,000 people out of Afghanistan,” he said.
He says they’ve been working with teams in many different locations, but the bureaucracy in several countries — including Canada — is high.
Their focus is on securing the safety of another 3,000 people, and believe the work will take years to complete.
“There's some people on our team who still haven't gotten their families out. We work with these interpreters very closely, they're here in Canada but their families are still stuck in Afghanistan. So there's a lot left to do for sure,” he said.
Macdonald believes there are about 8,000 people in Afghanistan right now, who’ve been approved to travel to Canada. But there are thousands more who are eligible, but have yet to be accepted.
“For the Government of Canada, we want them to extend the special immigration measures program, and that will allow us to get everyone that served Canada out of Afghanistan,” he said. “So we don't think there should be a cap on that in terms of numbers, and we don't think there should be a timeline on that. Let's take as long as it takes to get everyone who helped Canada out of Afghanistan.”
On Monday’s difficult anniversary, Monaghan hopes Canadians take a moment to think about the people of Afghanistan.
“Mostly, I would like people to think about how comfortable and happy and safe they are and then in comparison think about the lives that these families are living in Kabul, in terror, where they are afraid for their lives.”
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