Ex-Afghan interpreter praised by top soldier is still in the dark about his immigration status
CBC
Saturday will mark a year since Ottawa created a special program to prioritize immigration applications from Afghans who worked with the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian government, along with their family members.
One former interpreter — whose work earned him a letter of appreciation from Canada's current chief of the defence staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre — has been waiting nearly as long to find out if he qualifies.
"Sometimes [Eyre] would put his hand on my shoulder, say, 'Hey, nice, you've been doing a very good job for us,'" the interpreter told CBC News from Islamabad, Pakistan, where he now lives.
CBC News is withholding his identity to protect him from the Taliban, which has issued a warrant for his arrest.
His family still lives in Afghanistan. He said he thought initially that they would be safe as long as he left them and went into hiding.
"I do regret [doing that]," he said, adding he switched hiding places in Afghanistan roughly 15 times before finally crossing the border into Pakistan in May.
His letter from Eyre is dated August 6, 2007, when Eyre was a lieutenant-colonel serving in Kandahar. In it, Eyre praised the interpreter for his "prompt and courteous" service and said his work in training others ensured "highly skilled translators for both operations and garrisons duties" were ready to be deployed.
The interpreter included Eyre's letter in his queries to Global Affairs Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. He sent the first of those messages in August of last year.
"All I got was an automated reply," he said.
CBC News has seen copies of 12 notes the former interpreter subsequently sent to the government, none of which received detailed responses.
And the Taliban continues to hunt for him, he said.
"The Taliban came to my house. They searched my house twice."
In a statement sent last week to CBC News, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser's office confirmed the 18,000 spots in the special immigration measures program have been filled through roughly 15,000 applications and referrals forwarded by Global Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence.
It's not clear whether applicants who have received no replies to their queries count among those 18,000 or have been excluded.
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