The federal government has requested that two separate lawsuits be combined into one, following a claim made by an Afghan Canadian that Canada discriminated against Afghan refugees by treating them differently from Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. In late July, a former Canadian language and culture advisor who served NATO in Afghanistan filed a lawsuit alleging that the government has not allowed his family in Afghanistan to seek refuge in Canada. This was followed by a case in May from two other former language and culture advisors who served in the Canadian military. They also accuse the government of denying their families access to programs bringing Afghan refugees to Canada, while offering advantages to Ukrainians. The former NATO advisor claims that the government confers benefits on Ukrainians that are not offered to refugees from other countries facing wars and human rights abuses, such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Myanmar. The government has not yet responded to the advisors’ applications, but in a similar case before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, the government argued that unique crises require unique responses. The former NATO advisor’s court filing outlines the significant danger his family faces in Afghanistan, preventing them from qualifying to come to Canada, while alleging that if they were Ukrainian nationals, they would be welcomed with an emergency visa. The government reached a voluntary settlement and launched a special program to bring the families of LCAs to safety, but the eligibility criteria are restrictive and do not apply to extended family members or those who worked for NATO. Law professor Sharry Aiken believes that the courts will likely deal with these similar cases together, as they raise similar legal issues. She welcomes another case that highlights the disparity in Canada’s response to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan versus the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and believes that there are grounds for judicial oversight and correction of the policy.
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