Glad to escape 'jail for Afghan people,' family faces more uncertainty after arriving in Manitoba

A confusing and chaotic journey has come to an end for one Afghan family after they arrived in southwestern Manitoba last week.

But they now face more uncertainty, after initially being told they would be settled in Winnipeg — and instead being driven 200 kilometres west to Brandon following their arrival at Winnipeg's airport on Dec. 29.

One member of the family now quarantining in a temporary home in Brandon told CBC News that while she wonders what comes next for her, her husband, her four children and her brother-in-law, she's glad to be in Canada.

"I am really, really happy and thankful that the people of Canada, the government of Canada — they supported me a lot and they provided me this opportunity to be here now," said the woman.

CBC News has agreed not to name her due to concern for the safety of family members still in Afghanistan.

As the family begins to think about starting their lives over in a new place, far from their connections, the woman said she hopes she made the right decision coming to Canada.

Her home country has become "a jail for Afghan people," she said, since the Taliban overthrew the government in Kabul, where she lived and worked with international organizations advocating for women in sports, including one based in Canada.

Children were not allowed to go to school, and it was difficult for women to leave their homes. 

Now that she is in Brandon, the woman and her family face a different challenge — the prairie winter.

"It would be really difficult to go out in such extreme cold weather," she said.

She and her family had been trying since August to come to Canada, after they received letters from the Canadian government offering to bring them to this country.

Due to the chaos surrounding the Kabul airport as people tried to flee the Taliban, they were unable to get on a plane. 

For months, the family mostly hid inside their house while they communicated with Canadian officials, including Laura Robinson, who works as a consultant with Manitoba Sen. Marilou McPhedran. 

On Oct. 2, the family received an email from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada telling them their application had been approved under the federal government's special immigration program for those who helped Canadian efforts in Afghanistan.

It said they would need additional travel documents but gave little information on how to proceed and didn't offer any help to leave the country. 

With help from Robinson, the family was able to get on a flight out of Afghanistan — first to Qatar, and then to Albania.

Over a period of more than two months, the family communicated with multiple Canadian embassies and non-governmental organizations around the world, as they tried to arrange the necessary documents to come to Canada. 

Finally, on Dec. 25, they received word that they were cleared to come to Canada. 

Children's future

Robinson said she had advocated with the federal Immigration and Refugee Department to have the family settled in or near Toronto, where the organization the woman worked for in Afghanistan has its international office.

"We thought that it had been made quite clear to the IRCC that the very best place for her and her future work and employment would be the [Greater Toronto Area]," said Robinson. "So it was quite a shock to find out that they took her to Brandon."

In a statement to CBC News, a spokesperson for IRCC said refugees are matched with communities where settlement supports are already in place.

It gives consideration to whether they have family members in Canada, as well as the availability of schools, housing and language training.

According to federal government figures, a total of 15 government-assisted refugees have been settled in Brandon under the special program for Afghans who helped the Canadian government.

The Afghan woman is now wondering how she will arrange education for her children, who range in age from 11 to 17.

"I'm always thinking more about my children's future, because they have big dreams," she said.

Eventually, she hopes to relocate her family to Toronto, where her former colleagues have offered to help her find work.

Just before her family left Kabul, she received notice that she had the option to begin the process of immigrating to Germany, where her parents and sister live, but her family encouraged her to go to Canada instead — "because of the people here," she said.

"I heard a lot that you can quickly resettle here, because it's a country who accepts refugees a lot and they provide all kinds of kindness."