Canadians appeal for expansion of closed Afghan refugee sponsorship program

There's a major obstacle in the way for private sponsorship groups hoping to bring eligible Afghan families, who often have relatives already in Canada, into the country.

When the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan in August of 2021, Canadians wanted to help those fleeing for their lives and thousands of those Canadians remain at the ready to support those asylum seekers.

“We as a committee have all the resources to be able to support this family,” said Shannon Hawke with First St. Andrew’s United Church Refugee Sponsorship Committee in London, Ont.

But there’s a major obstacle for private sponsorship groups to overcome before they can apply to bring over the eligible families – who often have relatives already in Canada.

In order to be privately sponsored, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada requires most Afghans who’ve fled to other countries like Pakistan and Iran, to have official refugee recognition from that foreign state or from the United Nation High Commission for Refugees.

Though they meet the definition of a refugee, official status is something very few Afghans are able to obtain, in part because that status involves protections from states that are often unwilling to provide them.

“The family we’ve been trying to sponsor has not been able to get refugee status. We’ve been working with them for over a year,” Hawke said.

Hawke says her private sponsorship group has been fundraising for the requirement of nearly $90,000 for a family of six currently in hiding in Pakistan where they face possible deportation back to Afghanistan.

That’s why so many groups like hers across the country jumped at a temporary federal program that launched less than two months ago, waiving the need for that official refugee status, as long as the refugees meet the Canadian government’s criteria to be privately sponsored.