Her parents and siblings are at risk from the Taliban, she says. But to Canada, they're not family members

Sonita Mominzada, a refugee from Afghanistan, has six sisters — all young women desperate to get back to their university studies.

She has to pause when she talks about them. She takes deep breaths and turns off her camera on Zoom. "I'm sorry," she says, when she returns, wiping away tears. 

Mominzada, 28, and her husband Hashmatullah arrived in Canada from Afghanistan amid the Taliban takeover in late August 2021. They came through a special resettlement program for those who assisted the Canadian government. Hashmatullah did translation work for the Canadian and U.S. armies. 

But while they escaped, the lives of her sisters and other family members still in the country were put on pause. Women were barred from universities and prevented from leaving their homes without a male escort. 

Two of her sisters are studying law. But the possibility that they might not achieve their career dreams are the least of Mominzada's fears right now. Instead, it's their safety that keeps her up at night. 

Though her family members fled Afghanistan for Pakistan in March 2022, Mominzada lives in constant fear that they will be sent back to their home country and targeted because of their connection to her husband.

But in February, the family's application to join Mominzada in Canada was rejected. In its decision, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship said her sisters, two brothers and parents did not meet the definition of "family member."

The IRCC defines a family member under the federal Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The definition includes a spouse, common-law partner, or dependant children or grandchildren. 

Relatives can also qualify as a "de facto" family member if they have a dependency on the relative in Canada and have "documentary evidence" to show it, according to the policy.  

In the decision, an IRCC migration officer argued Mominzada's family does not meet the "definition of a family member" under the Protection Regulations.

"You are not financially and emotionally dependent on Mominzada Hashmatullah," says the decision, shared with CBC News. It does not elaborate further.

Mominzada says she can't understand why the application was declined. 

"We explained that it's not a good reason that they rejected the application. We explained everything to them," she said.

In Afghanistan, residents do not rely on banks the same way people do in the West, said Mominzada. Exchanging cash is more common than using a bank, meaning electronic records are harder to produce, she explained.