A Toronto-area community group says it has cash, jobs lined up and people ready to help two vulnerable Afghan families come to Canada, but it says the federal government is not moving fast enough to get the refugees out of danger.
The Georgetown Friends of Refugees Committee 3 is trying to help nine Afghan refugees. It's working through the United Church of Canada, which has a private sponsorship agreement with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada . But a member of the committee, Ken Thorn, said the church has permission to bring in only 25 refugees in 2023 under a special program that admits vulnerable Afghan nationals.
The two families have been accepted under Canada's Operation Afghan Safety program, which was established to expedite the immigration of Afghans to Canada through private sponsorship. The first family is a father, two sons and one daughter. The second is a mother, her daughter and three sons. Adeena Niazi, founder and executive director of Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services, said difficulties processing refugees through private sponsorships are common and should be expedited.
Niazi said through its sponsorship program, her agency has helped sponsor and resettle more than 5,000 refugees in Canada, mainly from Afghanistan and Syria. It also helps between 20,000 to 22,000 refugees each year.IRCC confirmed to CBC Toronto that the United Church is limited to just 25 slots for Afghan refugees under the special program, as are all Special Agreement Holders .
The ministry said it's processing private sponsorship applications for roughly 7,000 Afghan refugees. Of those, an additional 3,000 spaces were given to Sponsorship Agreement Holders ... through Operation Afghan Safety to use this year.IRCC said it has provided "over and above" the number of spaces each SAH receives as part of their annual allocation to sponsor refugees globally.
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