Taliban killing of girl waiting to come to Canada ‘unconscionable,’ immigration minister says
Global News
Critics called on the government to step up efforts to evacuate Afghans living in fear of the Taliban.
The Taliban’s killing of a 10-year-old girl who was waiting to come to Canada should “shock the conscience of every Canadian,” Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said Friday as he renewed the government’s commitment to resettling Afghan refugees.
The shooting death was “unconscionable and it is the kind of thing that motivates us to do more and more,” the minister told reporters. “And we will make good on our commitment to resettle 40,000 Afghan refugees, no matter what it takes.”
The minister was responding to a Global News report about Nazifa, a Grade 6 student killed on the night of Dec. 10 when the Taliban opened fire on a vehicle that had passed through a checkpoint in Kandahar City.
Her father Bashir worked as a carpenter for the Canadian Forces until 2011. The family was approved to immigrate to Canada, but had been unable to leave Afghanistan because the government has halted evacuation efforts.
They were in Kandahar to apply for Afghan passports so they could attempt to travel to neighbouring Pakistan, and fly from there to Canada, when Nazifa was shot while returning from a wedding, her family said.
The killing has highlighted the plight of thousands of Afghans who are living in fear of the Taliban because their families worked for the Canadian Forces, but who have no way to flee.
To date, less than 4,000 Afghans have arrived in Canada under a resettlement program for former interpreters and others who worked for Canada during the military mission in Afghanistan.
The Conservatives said a parliamentary committee set up last week to examine the government’s handling of the Afghan crisis would investigate why the family had been unable to leave the country.