Ottawa – The sister of a man working as an interpreter for the Canadian armed forces during the war in Afghanistan says that she is afraid that she will be sent back to her former house, where she may face violent vengeance at the hands of Taliban.
The mother of six and her children escaped from Turkey in 2018 and survived a war-torn country-to qualify for a special temporary program, which helped bring family members of military language and cultural advisors to Canada.
The program applies only to family members who were in Afghanistan on or after July 22, 2021, some time ago Kabul fell into the Taliban.
While his brother told the Canadian press that most of his children have now married Canadian people-who allows them to apply to come to Canada-that and his unmarried 22-year-old son believes that this week they have to face exile after receiving a notice from the Turkish government, and they are said to be verbally that the country should leave the country.
She said she believes that the Taliban killed her husband in 2013 as her brother helped Canadian soldiers. The Canadian press has agreed not to publish his name due to the threat to the Taliban.
“My whole family is crying,” he said in Pashto, his brother explained. “They are under immense stress. I’m still thinking, what will happen to me?”
His brother said that he and his son do not know that he has a means of filing an appeal for immigration decision, which should be done within two weeks.
He said that when he has been living in Turkey for years, he has faced discrimination, unable to find appropriate work and has nothing to return to Afghanistan.
His brother, a Canadian citizen named “Sam” by the Canadian army, worked on the ground in Afghanistan 15 years ago, helping the Canadian soldiers to navigate the country as a language and cultural advisor.
Sam said, “If he was to be deported, it would be clearly executed by the same government, the same people who fought … who were in the rebels at the time, and now they are in power,” Sam said, “he is suffering from PTSD due to his service.
The Canadian government hired several dozen Afghan language and cultural advisors during the war to act as the eyes and ears of the army in the field. Many people have returned to Canada to face immense conflicts only in achieving access to social support such as health care.
Sam said that he has taken his case for years for senior officials in Ottawa and even written to Prime Minister Mark Carney. He said that he continued to flee against bureaucratic obstacles and officials eager him to redirect him to other offices.
He said that his family and two other Afghan language and cultural advisors were barred from coming to Canada through Ottawa’s special temporary program, which was closed in 2023.
He said that he and the other two advisors challenged the case in the federal court, arguing that Canada discriminated against him. He argued that the federal government set relatively liberal words for a special program for Ukrainian who fled from the Russian invasion and imposed more strict conditions on the program for families of Afghan language and cultural advisors.
This court challenge failed before this heat. Because in the case, the judge found the application moot, this appeal cannot be made.
Nicholas Pope, a lawyer for three former military advisors, said, “Now, it is just a political move of the government that is doing the right thing … taking care of those whose families are threatened by service in Canada.”
“This is really disastrous,” the Pope said about the sister’s position. “This is just a major failure of the system.”
“Sam” Ottawa is suppressed to help his family as the Taliban handled Afghanistan in 2021. He helped his local MP, Orthodox Scott Reid, who raised the issue in Parliament.
He said that after the court’s challenge ended, he did not benefit from a local church. He said that he does not know where to turn to help.
Immigration, refugees and citizenship Canada did not respond to the time limit when asked about the case.
“Sam” said that he is now “all heartily” to work with the Canadian army.
He said, “He only lied to us. He put us in a situation where he used us and now it is a award here.”
“My only question (for the government) would be … was it worth it to save and save so many lives, and then sacrifice my family at the same time?”
This report of Canadian Press was first published on August 8, 2025.
Kyle Duggan, Canadian Press
