Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. If it were only a matter of will, there would be at least 40,000 Afghan refugees in Canada already, but the reality is that at every step of the way there are obstacles facing the government that were not present in other large-scale resettlement efforts to which Canada was a party. There are a number of significant factors that the Government of Canada simply does not control, such as safe passage out of Afghanistan and the ability for those Afghans that the government wants to resettle here to leave the country. The government continues to work on these each and every day.

As colleagues know, the Government of Canada has no military or diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, which makes travel difficult and, indeed, dangerous. As Afghanistan is currently controlled by the Taliban, which this government does not recognize as a legitimate government, this prevents any diplomatic engagement or negotiations on the exit of Afghan nationals from Afghanistan. Moreover, colleagues, third countries determine the entry and exit documents required to transit through their country, which may include the need for an Afghan visa and passport.

Despite these challenges, we have now welcomed over 15,000 Afghan refugees to Canada. The government continues to process Afghan refugees’ applications day and night. The government has mobilized its entire global network to process visas and issue them on an urgent basis.