Trudeau defends Canada’s resettlement of Afghans, says ‘there’s much more to do’

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has defended the pace at which Canada is resettling Afghans waiting to be granted entry into the country, saying the situation is 'challenging.'

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has defended the pace at which Canada is resettling thousands of Afghans waiting to be granted entry into the country, saying the situation is “challenging” but there’s “much more to do.”

Trudeau’s remarks came after a Global News investigation revealed Ottawa has left thousands of Afghan refugees stranded in Pakistan for months, long after they had been approved for resettlement in Canada under a special immigration stream for vulnerable Afghans.

Global News spoke to half a dozen families in limbo in Pakistan, many of whom say they have almost run out of money, cannot afford food, have expired visas or no passports and are depressed.

Trudeau was asked about the Afghan and Ukraine resettlement programs during a visit to Edmonton, while promoting his Liberal government’s recent budget and planned support for small businesses.

“We’ve committed to welcoming Afghan refugees by the tens of thousands. We’ve already welcomed many, but there’s much more to do and that situation over there is challenging in terms of just getting people out of Afghanistan, given the way the Taliban is preventing and obstructing people fleeing to safety,” Trudeau said.

He then described the situation in Ukraine as “heartbreaking,” but stressed that “every immigration or refugee situation is different,” and the government had launched a process specific to Ukraine to help those refugees.

However, he did not refer to any concrete action the government was taking to speed up the immigration process for Afghans.

“I can assure you that the immigration department and indeed the entire government is doing everything we can to welcome as many people as we can from as many places as we can, as quickly as possible which is what Canadians expect of us,” Trudeau said.