'Today is a fantastic day': Manitoba welcomes more than 300 Afghan refugees
CBC
A charter plane from Pakistan, carrying more than 300 refugees from Afghanistan, landed in Winnipeg on Friday morning.
The flight is part of the Government of Canada's commitment to resettle 40,000 Afghan people in Canada.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada told CBC News that nearly 17,600 Afghans and their family members have arrived in Canada since August 2021.
A year after Kabul fell to the Taliban, Afghanistan faces a humanitarian crisis, with millions of people struggling to find food, while women and girls have lost basic rights.
For Sayed Najib Amin, it's a day of extreme joy and pain.
Friday marks exactly one year since his brother and sister-in-law were killed by a suicide bomber near the Kabul airport on the day they were set to fly out of Afghanistan. Their deaths orphaned two boys, now aged 2½ and four.
Amin, who lives in Montreal, flew into Winnipeg on Thursday to get his nephews.
"We suffered a lot, so today is a fantastic day. It's the happiest day of my life. I can't wait to hold my nephews in my arms," he said, getting the words out between sobs.
The boys had been living in Pakistan with another uncle and his wife, who are making the trip as well. Amin plans to take them all to Montreal to live with his family.
"We were counting every second of our life [to get them]. God gave me another life today. I can't describe it, how happy and emotional I am."
The flight was originally supposed to arrive last month but was delayed, which made the wait seem so much longer, Amin said.
But the day has finally arrived "and I'm not living in the past anymore," Amin said. "I'm a present person."
Boris Ntambwe, resettlement and housing manager for Accueil Francophone, said 115 of the refugees will go to Brandon, Winkler and Winnipeg, and the rest will settle in different parts of Canada.
"We are going to offer them, first of all, a place … [to] have food and relax a little bit and have an intake and have immediate assessment to see if there's any urgent needs that need to be addressed, any medical or health issues," he said.
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