Activists call on Canada to help Afghan women facing deportation due to Trump administration cuts
U.S. cancelling scholarship program for more than 120 Afghan women studying abroad
On a sunny Tuesday morning in Vancouver, Hela Sedeqi stands outside the school she's attended since September, after arriving in Canada last summer.
Sedeqi, 19, had missed several years of schooling in her home country, Afghanistan. She's now finishing Grade 11 at Crofton House School, an elite private school.
But with recent funding cuts under U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, she worries other Afghan women like her won't have the same chance to get a formal education.
She says having the opportunity to learn far away from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan has changed her life and fears for other women who have received U.S.-funded scholarships that are expected to be terminated this summer.
"It's heartbreaking. Imagining myself in that position terrifies me," Sedeqi told CBC News.
More than 120 Afghan women are set to lose their scholarships funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which had allowed them to attend universities in cities such as Qatar and Oman.
Trump's administration cancelled the scholarship program as part of sweeping cuts to USAID, accusing the agency of widespread waste and criticizing its programs for not aligning with American foreign policy goals.
In a February email viewed by CBC News, the USAID Afghanistan Women's Scholarship Endowment informed students that their scholarships would be discontinued and that they would be getting "travel arrangements back to Afghanistan."
Activists are now calling on the Canadian government and universities to help the women study here, warning the students could face dire and potentially life-threatening consequences if they return to Taliban rule.
Taliban education ban
The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and stopped girls from going to school beyond Grade 6 as part of harsh measures they imposed after taking power in 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. forces, despite initially promising more moderate rule.
According to 2023 data from the United Nations, at least 1.4 million Afghan girls have been banned from accessing secondary education since 2021, while more than 100,000 have been denied access to post secondary education.
The Taliban also enforce a strict dress code, arresting women who don't comply with their interpretation of hijab, or Islamic headscarf. The United Nations and other human rights organizations have reported that some women have been subjected to cruel punishments, including stoning and flogging.
Friba Rezayee is the executive director of Women Leaders of Tomorrow, a Vancouver-based non-profit organization that has helped provide dozens of Afghan students, including Sedeqi, scholarships to study in B.C.
She says she's been flooded with messages from USAID scholarship recipients desperately seeking help.
"It's a really scary situation because nothing is certain for them," she said in an interview.
Panic attacks
USAID scholarships were supposed to be funded until 2028 but a U.S. State Department spokesperson told CBC News this week that the government will fund the scholarships until June 30 of this year.
The spokesperson did not answer questions about whether the government will provide funding beyond that date.
The Women's Scholarship Endowment told CBC News that it's proceeding under the assumption that the scholarship program will end June 30 and that it intends to work with USAID and the State Department to request an extension that will allow all of the students to graduate.
On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that the dismantling of USAID likely violated the Constitution but it still unclear what that means for USAID operations.
CBC News spoke to one of the students studying in Qatar, who has one year left in her program.
"A lot of the girls had panic attacks so we had to take them to the hospital … they struggle with stress and anxiety," she said.
CBC News is not naming the student because she has concerns for her safety if she returns to Afghanistan.
"We are knocking on every door we can so that we can find a scholarship or anything so that we could go and pursue our education and not go back to Afghanistan," she said.
Rezayee said she hopes Canadian universities and the federal government will provide support.
Murwarid Ziayee, senior director at Canadian non-profit Right to Learn Afghanistan, agrees.
"They need this type of support more than ever," she said. "There are possibilities to step up and adapt to respond to the current crisis."
'Where there's a will, there's a way'
Christina Clark-Kazak, a University of Ottawa professor specializing in forced migration, says Afghan students would face many challenges trying to come to Canada.
"The issue is you can't give a scholarship if the person is not physically able to get into Canada," she said.
She said the best bet would be for students to apply for a student visa but she noted that there's a high refusal rate for people who are not likely to go back to their country of origin and that the federal government has put a cap on new international study permits.
Clark-Kazak said universities can offer scholarships but will need Ottawa's help to bring the students to Canada.
She said universities have previously stepped up in times of crises, including in 2015 when several helped sponsor Syrian refugees so they could continue their education.
"Where there's a will, there's a way," she said.
In a statement to CBC News, Global Affairs Canada said it's closely coordinating with "education stakeholders in Afghanistan to understand the impact of USAID cuts to education programs."
"Canada is concerned about the potential long-term impacts of reduced funding for vulnerable people around the world. That said, we acknowledge that every country has the right to determine its own development assistance, foreign policy priorities, and organizational structures," Global Affairs said.
Sedeqi hopes all efforts are made to try and bring the USAID scholarship recipients to Canada or other countries.
"It's the only thing that we can help them and even save their lives," she said.
"We will not let them go back to Afghanistan."
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With files from The Associated Press and Reuters