More than 300 people from Afghanistan arrived in Canada on Wednesday, bringing the total number of Afghans resettled since the Taliban takeover of that country to more than 30,000, the federal government said.
A flight from Pakistan arrived at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on Wednesday morning.
Those on board included people who helped Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, family members of former interpreters and privately sponsored refugees.
After the Taliban swept to power in August 2021, Canada promised to resettle at least 40,000 Afghans through a number of special programs.
30,000 Afghan refugees now in Canada, but thousands wait in fear
Canada has welcomed 30,000 Afghan refugees, the majority of whom helped the Canadian Armed Forces, since the Taliban gained control in 2021, but thousands are still waiting in fear for their lives.
The federal government says it is now on track to reach the 40,000 target by the end of 2023, but it acknowledges in a news release that there will be significant challenges.
“You have to think about having multiple ways for Afghans to get to Canada, and to also support them to get to other countries safely,” Lauryn Oates, executive director of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, told CBC News on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about expanding that target Wednesday. He said only that the government would look at next steps once 40,000 people are resettled.
“We’re continuing to work on fulfilling those numbers and we’ll look to what we can and must do in the future in other ways,” Trudeau told a press conference in Winnipeg.
Canada is prioritizing the most vulnerable Afghans, “including woman leaders, human-rights defenders, persecuted and religious minorities, 2SLGBTQI+ individuals and journalists,” said a news release from the Immigration Department.
Luggage is loaded onto a bus at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport after refugees arrive from Afghanistan by plane. (CBC)
United Nations halts work in Afghanistan
The United Nations on Tuesday instructed employees to not report to the organization’s offices in Afghanistan and ordered an operational review. It made the moves in response to the Taliban restricting the rights of women and girls.
“Limited and calibrated exceptions” will be made for critical tasks, says a statement released by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
The Taliban banned women from working for the UN earlier this month. Despite earlier promises of a more moderate approach to power, the Taliban banned girls from attending school past Grade 6. Afghan women were also barred from working at national and international non-governmental organizations, disrupting the delivery of humanitarian aid.
“Through this ban, the Taliban de factoauthorities seek to force the United Nations into having to make an appalling choice between staying and delivering in support of the Afghan people and standing by the norms and principles we are duty-bound to uphold,” the UN statement said.
Up until last week, women working for the UN were not included in the NGO ban, but the UN warned that women working for the organization could be targeted.
What happens if the UN scales back operations in Afghanistan? | About That
After the Taliban barred Afghan women from working for the UN last week, the UN is reviewing its operations in the country. About That producer Lauren Bird discusses the impact this could have on humanitarian aid in that country with War Child Canada founder Dr. Samantha Nutt.
Proposed law aims to better support foreign aid programs
Canadian charities and other non-governmental organizations have largely suspended their activities in the country because of Criminal Code provisions that essentially prohibit them from operating there.
Those provisions have had a chilling effect on life-saving work, charities said. Would-be refugees struggled to leave Afghanistan because of limited access to support workers who provide help with translation, paperwork and safe travel arrangements.
“It is no exaggeration that lives hang in the balance,” Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told a press conference at the Canadian Red Cross headquarters in Ottawa last month.
“This bill meets the urgency of the moment, giving NGOs the flexibility they need to help those in need in Afghanistan.”
People exit an airplane from Pakistan at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on April 12, 2023. (CBC)
So far, 11,990 applications had been approved but only 9,875 Afghans had arrived in Canada by March 30, according to data published by the Immigration Department.
Another special program has been created to help the extended family members of former interpreters who are already living in Canada. The government says it aims to bring 5,000 people in through that stream, and 1,285 had arrived by the end of March.
Another 15,875 people who fall under government-assisted and privately sponsored refugee programs were in Canada by that time.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia‘s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
