Afghan families look to start new lives in Windsor
CBC
Nearly eight months after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, several families from the country are starting over in Windsor.
Ghousuddin Frotan, his wife Fatima and their eight children arrived in Windsor on Jan. 7.
The journey to get to Canada was not easy, he said, with stays along the way in Qatar, London and Mexico, and a harrowing experience at Kabul airport, where one of the children was missing for several hours in the chaos.
But right now, the children are in school and the family is building a new community.
Frotan said it's his dream for his children to get a good education and study in their chosen fields. Some of the children already have their sights set on engineering and health care, he explained.
Frotan, a journalist who also worked with non-profit organizations, said many in the journalism field wanted to leave the country after the government fell to the Taliban in August.
"Fellow journalists, those people who are involved in the media, human rights defenders, civil society activists and ... ex-government [employees], they are still in trouble," said Frotan, who worked for the Wall Street Journal in Afghanistan and is currently doing a fellowship in global journalism at the University of Toronto.
"They are hiding themselves, they are followed, they are arrested, and even they are killed."
Despite the situation, it was not easy for the family to leave. On one hand, Frotan said he was happy to be going to a "dream country" where they could be safe.
"From the other side, I was leaving everything behind: my parents, my family members, my close friends and my country," he said. "So it was difficult."
With the Taliban banning secondary school for girls, he's not sure his daughters would have gotten an education.
"Now, here, they have the opportunity to study what they want, to go to university," he said.
He's concerned for those remaining in the country, and also for those facing months-long waits to get out.
While much of the world's attention has shifted to the war in Ukraine, a humanitarian crisis is still unfolding in Afghanistan.
A 17-year-old boy is dead after he was shot by an RCMP officer in Norway House Cree Nation on Friday.
Saskatchewan road crews and residents alike are getting ready for another icy blast of winter this weekend.
Student leaders at the University of Alberta are criticizing the school's plan to hike tuition — particularly for international students.
Environment Canada says a new fall storm will bring winds gusting up to 110 km/h to southwestern British Columbia on Friday, potentially causing more outages and travel disruption.
Environment Canada says strong winds could cause damage to roofs and windows in P.E.I.'s Kings County and Prince County this weekend, with power outages possible from fallen tree branches.
City council has approved a 3.6 per cent increase in municipal property taxes for next year. The decision follows five days of debate on adjustments to next year's civic budget.
Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish has resigned from the Peel Police Service Board.
Public health in Yellowknife is reducing some services over the holiday season due to staffing shortages.
Two premiers are asking Ottawa to cover the provincial cost of the Trudeau government's promised tax holiday.
Former Alberta MLA Derek Fildebrandt fist-pumped from the prisoner's box as a Calgary judge acquitted him on all four counts of uttering threats to a group of 13- and 14-year-old boys whom he chased in a truck through his southwest neighbourhood last spring.
Buddhist monks and nuns who live in eastern Prince Edward Island say they were disappointed to hear some of the concerns expressed at a planning meeting this past week in the Town of Three Rivers.