Canada changes online criteria for Afghan refugee program; only those who fled eligible
Global News
The program is one of two set up to help bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada and is intended for vulnerable groups.
The Canadian government has quietly changed the criteria on its website for a special program for vulnerable Afghan refugees so that only those who have already managed to escape to other countries are eligible.
The online criteria for the “special humanitarian program” used to include Afghans “who are in Afghanistan or outside of Afghanistan,” but it was changed this month to apply only to those “outside of Afghanistan.”
The program is one of two set up to help bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada and is intended for vulnerable groups including women leaders, persecuted religious or ethnic minorities, LGBTQ people and journalists.
The online criteria for the other program, which is aimed at interpreters and others who helped Canada during its military mission as well as embassy staff, still allows those inside Afghanistan to apply.
When the government first announced the special humanitarian program in August, it said it would apply to those outside Afghanistan, but it ultimately included those stuck inside the war-torn country in its online criteria.
The government said Monday that the change to the website was a “communications rather than a policy change.”
Alex Cohen, a spokesman for Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino, said Canada would continue to do its utmost to help vulnerable Afghans inside and outside the country.
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