(Ottawa) Six months after the federal government pledged to help thousands of Afghan women activists, human rights defenders and journalists flee Afghanistan, the first plane has finally arrived in the country.
Posted at 6:26 p.m. yesterday
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced the arrival on Tuesday afternoon of 250 Afghan refugees, including 170 people admitted under the immigration stream for human rights defenders. A program created last July following weeks of criticism from angry veterans.
These former soldiers felt that Ottawa should do more to help Afghans threatened with retaliation by the Taliban for collaborating with the Canadian military.
Although the Liberal government has promised to resettle 40,000 Afghans, barely 6,750 nationals have been welcomed into the country so far. It was not clear, however, when the aircraft that landed in Calgary took off from Afghanistan.