Afghan refugees stalled in starting new lives in Canada as paperwork has 'ground to a halt,' sponsor says

A Guelph, Ont., businessman recognized internationally for his work in resettling refugees says Ottawa's process to bring more people from Afghanistan to Canada has "ground to a halt."

Jim Estill, a sponsorship agreement holder with the government, has asked to bring 300 people to Canada. So far, he's been told he can only sponsor 40.

Estill said he's a big supporter of private sponsorships because it doesn't cost the government as much money and the resettlement process is easier. The Danby Appliances chief executive officer helps them find work and housing when they come to a community.

He just needs the people to come.

"The government has ground to a halt on private sponsorship," Estill said in an interview with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition host Craig Norris.

Estill said that when he first sponsored Syrian refugees, it was a similar situation. He waited nearly a year between saying he would sponsor families, to them arriving in Canada, and even then, the process was slow.

"I'm hoping the government opens the floodgates and lets it happen. The government just has to process paperwork. That's all it is," he said.

In particular, Estill wants to help Hazaras in Afghanistan, a religious and ethnic minority group.

Nasrin Husseini is a University of Guelph researcher, local member of the Hazara community and twice was a refugee before coming to Canada.

She said that last week, an attack on a school in a Hazara community killed youth, and many do not feel safe in Afghanistan.

"Our identity is our faith and that makes us easily to be targeted for all these attacks," she told CBC News. "They think that we don't belong to Afghanistan, and that's not acceptable at all."

She said she's proud of the work Canada has done to help Ukrainians who have fled their country after Russia started its invasion earlier this year. 

"But when I see the different treatment that is happening to Afghans, I really get disappointed," she said.

She wants the Canadian government to remember there are people who have left their homes, fled to another country and are now in limbo, unable to work or access education.