Afghan siblings in Saskatoon fear family reunion delays as Canada pauses private refugee sponsorship
Immigration minister says decision is due to 'oversupply' of applications
Kamila Jamili sits in her small Saskatoon apartment with a steaming mug of green tea, reminiscing over framed photos of her family. They show the last time her siblings and parents were together — three years ago, before they were forced to flee their home in Afghanistan.
"I was talking with my parents. 'I can't leave you guys behind.' But they said, 'just go and keep your life,'" the 26-year-old said. "We are very worried about them. Still they are not safe."
Jamili eventually came to Canada in 2022 as a privately-sponsored refugee, with her brother Ali joining her last year. But the siblings now fear a longer wait to reunite with the parents, sister and two brothers they left behind.
Last week, Canada announced a pause on private refugee sponsorship applications from groups and community organizations. The change took effect immediately and runs until the end of next year.
The government says the change is to address a backlog of applications that far outpace the number of spaces in the program.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller told reporters on Tuesday that the move is part of an overall decrease in newcomers announced in late October.
"Canada always has to have an open heart, but we also have to be realistic with Canadians in the amount of people that we can take in and properly serve with the resources that we have," he said.
Long journey to Canada
The Jamili siblings both came to Canada through the private sponsorship program, hoping eventually to reunite.
Kamila, a climate activist with Fridays for Future, escaped Afghanistan with the help of the international advocacy group in 2021, one month after the Taliban regained power. She lived in Pakistan for a year before a private sponsorship group in Saskatoon helped bring her to Canada.
Ali, now 20, left his family shortly after that, walking across the border into Iran and eventually to Turkey.
"It was so hard. And it happened so quickly. I didn't have time to say goodbye to my youngest brother," he said.
"In Afghanistan, I had no future at that time. I was thinking if I stay in this situation, there is no school, there is no work, there is nothing to do."
After more than two years of waiting, Ali was privately sponsored and reunited with his sister in Saskatoon.
Kamila works as an educational assistant with Saskatoon Public Schools and Ali is completing high school while working a part-time job.
Now, they're waiting to see what the federal government's announcement means for their parents and siblings.
Model refugee system
Aid groups argue the refugee program was a successful model that other countries tried to emulate and say the number of spots should be increased.
Adam Sadinsky, co-chair of advocacy with the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, said the decision will harm people waiting in refugee camps and other precarious situations.
"This is really the best way that our refugee system can work, because people are coming into the warm embrace of a community that has already committed to the government that they're going to support them," he said.
"My concern is that people are going to take more perilous journeys to get to this country, which many people have already done, potentially traveling through South and Central America, using smugglers."
Privately sponsored refugees are a small portion of overall immigration, according to data from Statistics Canada. Last year, about 27,000 people were accepted through the program, out of a total of just under 472,000 immigrants that settled in the country.
Alastair Clarke, an immigration lawyer in Winnipeg who works with refugee claims, said the decision to pause applications is "baffling," since the responsibility falls on private citizens.
"These types of programs, in my view, show that the Canadian populace and these Canadian communities want to support these individuals," he said.
'Don't take our hope'
The Jamili family is being sponsored by a small group of citizens who have raised $33,000 toward the $47,000 needed for the application.
Private sponsors are required to cover all of the costs for a refugee during their first year in Canada, including housing, and provide them with emotional support during their resettlement.
Kate Herriot is part of the group and said the announcement from the federal government came as a shock.
"My heart just dropped out of my chest because I immediately thought about the family waiting to hear from us in Pakistan and how we were going to talk to the family," she said.
Her group is aiming to submit the application with the help of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), a faith-based agency involved in relief development efforts. As a sponsorship agreement holder with Ottawa, it has a set number of spots allocated and submits an average of 60 applications each year.
Mark Bigland-Pritchard, the organization's resettlement co-ordinator in Saskatchewan, said he's still waiting to learn how the reduction in immigration numbers will impact groups like his.
"It means that a lot of people who would've been able to go the group of five route, or the community sponsorship route, will be coming to us instead. So we'll have that much more competition for spaces," he said.
Despite the changes, Kamila Jamili said she's trying to stay optimistic about the future and chances of bringing her family safely to Canada. She's working a second job at a mall to earn money to send to her parents in Pakistan.
"It's hard for us. We were hoping to see them soon," she said.
"I'm asking them, 'don't take our hope from us.'"
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