Afghan refugees, ‘very resilient’ human rights workers arrive in Edmonton

The refugees fled Afghanistan when the Taliban took over in August 2021 and had been in hiding until earlier this week, when a flight could be booked.

On Friday, 170 refugees from Afghanistan  — dozens of whom are human rights workers — arrived in Edmonton.

The group landed in Calgary earlier this week and travelled to Edmonton by bus. Agencies have been working for months to bring them to Edmonton, Catholic Social Services (CSS) said.

“Finally we received confirmation that yes, in fact, they are coming, they can all come to Edmonton and they will arrive today,” said Kathryn Friesen, a director of immigration for CSS.

The refugees fled Afghanistan during the Taliban uprising in August 2021 and had been in hiding until earlier this week, when a flight could be booked, CSS said.

“They are human rights workers, human rights defenders,” Friesen said. “They were doing that work in Afghanistan, which did put them in a very precarious situation when the Taliban took over the country, and they had to immediately exit into Pakistan.

The Liberal government initially committed to resettling 20,000 Afghan refugees but upped that pledge during the federal election campaign to 40,000.

“Edmonton and our agency, CSS, our sector colleagues in the community have all been excited and willing and wanting to welcome this very resilient, very resourceful group that’s really been doing some amazing work on the ground in Afghanistan,” Friesen said.

“Many of those arriving worked for decades documenting human rights abuses and war crimes in Afghanistan and intend to continue their work, once settled, with the assistance of Canadian and international non-governmental organizations,” CSS added in a news release.