CIMM — Responses to Ukraine and Afghanistan – May 12, 2022

Key Messages

• Canada has a proud and long-standing tradition of responding to the needs of vulnerable people affected by crisis.
• Each humanitarian crisis that Canada responds to is different and there is no “one size fits all” approach to our responses. When responding to international crises, Canada tailors each response to meet the unique needs of those who require our support.
• The ongoing war in Ukraine is significantly different from the crisis in Afghanistan, for instance:
  • Many of the displaced Ukrainians have left Ukraine, whereas the majority of Afghan remain in-country.
  • Canada’s response to Ukraine is to provide temporary protection to those fleeing the conflict and permanent immigration pathways to those with a family connection in Canada. Whereas Canada is providing permanent protection to Afghans who assisted Canadian military/diplomatic activities; including family reunification for their extended families, as well as to other groups vulnerable to persecution by the Taliban.
  • Ukrainians have been welcomed in third countries in great numbers while Afghans have experienced border closures from many neighbouring countries.

Supplementary Messages

Anti-racism

• IRCC is committed to a fair and non-discriminatory immigration system. As part of our commitment to anti-racism, equity and inclusion, we are looking closely at our resettlement initiatives through the lens of how they impact racialized clients, to ensure our programs and policies are fair, equitable, and culturally sensitive.
• In response to both the Afghanistan and Ukraine crisis, the Department chose a course of action that we believed would be most effective in helping those fleeing violence, within the context of coordinating our actions with our international allies. Our intent, as is always the case, is to provide the best support possible to those at risk, given the circumstances.
• We cannot state with certainty that this approach eliminates the possibility of bias, and for this reason, we are continuing to work with our Anti-Racism Task Force as well as other like-minded stakeholders, to explore the development of an equity-based approach to guide our actions in responding to crises in the future.

Responsive: As with Ukraine, why Afghans aren’t doing biometrics upon arrival?

• IRCC carefully assesses and balances security, operational and humanitarian considerations when making decisions on exempting certain visa requirements, including the collection of biometrics which can happen in rare, exceptional circumstances.
• It is critical that biometric screening is undertaken prior to the arrival of individuals in Canada. This is an important risk mitigating step to ensure that we can confirm the identity of individuals seeking to travel to Canada, and to help ensure that those few bad actors who pose a threat to our immigration system or to Canadians, remain overseas.
• An exceptional, evidence-based decision was made to exempt the biometrics requirement for specific, lower-risk cohorts of Ukrainian nationals based on an assessment of risk by IRCC with our Public Safety partners, informed by the region and unique situation.
• The challenges in providing in-person client services in Afghanistan are extraordinary. The Government of Canada has no military or diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, which presents challenges in how we collect and verify applicants’ information in the absence of in-country biometric screening capacity.
• We are also unable to collaborate with our usual international partners who face the same challenges and have limited capacity to complete processing and issue visas for clients in Afghanistan.
• Until such time that full in-country processing is feasible, we have an innovative and robust solution in place, using a multi-stage approach to security screening in Afghanistan, which ensures that the necessary initial client security screening can be completed prior to departure from Afghanistan, and fully completed prior to arrival in Canada.
• In addition, we are actively exploring solutions with like-minded countries and partners to undertake biometric enrollment in Afghanistan, should conditions allow.

Comparison table

Background

Ukraine

• With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, internal and external displacement of Ukrainians has already begun (4.4 million people displaced to date), and could reach significant numbers over time.
• Canada remains steadfast in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and we have put in measures to support those affected by the situation in Ukraine.
• In our conversations with the Ukrainian community, we heard that many people wanted to come to Canada temporarily, not as refugees, while the situation unfolds and then return home.
• In response to the situation in Ukraine, IRCC will provide temporary status under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) measures, as well as a new family reunification pathway. There is no limit to the number of people who can apply.

Afghanistan

• The situation in Afghanistan is extremely difficult and complex as the Taliban have control of the country. We are navigating an extremely challenging environment, one in which the Government of Canada no longer has any military or diplomatic presence.
• Given the unique and urgent situation, the Government of Canada had to be responsive, innovative and flexible, including with the creation of special measures and public policies to rapidly assist at-risk Afghans.
• With approximately 70% of the vulnerable Afghans who have applied under the special measures remaining in-country, the humanitarian program, for instance, responds to the need to receive referrals for refugees from both inside and outside of Afghanistan.
• As outlined in the 2022-2024 Immigration Level Plan, the Government of Canada remains committed to its 2021 announcement to resettle at least 40,000 Afghan nationals.
• The Government of Canada has also mandated IRCC to facilitate the safe passage and resettlement of vulnerable people from Afghanistan, with an emphasis on individuals who supported Canada and our allies over the past two decades, women, LGBTQ2 people, human rights defenders, journalists and members of religious and ethnic minorities and increase the number of eligible refugees from 20,000 to at least 40,000.
• Service Provider Organizations will help newly arrived Afghans locate permanent housing and provide them with information that they need such as:
  • life in Canada;
  • the community where they will settle;
  • language training;
  • finding a job; and,
  • making connections with established immigrants and Canadians.