“Women MPs are the worst nightmare for a Taliban”

Friday evening at Toronto Pearson Airport. Conservative MP Alex Ruff searches a 7-Eleven to buy small Canadian flags. “No, we need Quebec flags,” Bloc member Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe joked to him, his eyes fixed on the arrivals table.

A few minutes later, Alex Ruff returns with a balloon decorated with a maple leaf – everything he could find. The liberal Marcus Powlowski arrives with two bouquets of flowers in his hand. Oh Marcus, so sweeeethis colleagues in Parliament tell him.

It’s rare to see federal elected officials from different parties collaborate, even less so these days. But, behind closed doors, for two years, six Canadian MPs worked together to try to help around ten Afghan women come to Canada.

And not just any women: women who were, like them, parliamentarians, until August 2021.

It was Canadian federal programs that encouraged these women to run for office.notes the elected representative of the Bloc Québécois, member of the group, Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe. And after that, Canada left when Kabul fell and we left those people behind. We have a responsibility towards these women.

Women deputies who are part of a democratic process, for a Taliban, it is the worst nightmare in the world.

In total, 69 women were elected to the Jirga, the Afghan Parliament, just before the return of the Taliban in August 2021. In the months that followed, several managed to flee, notably to Greece, but around ten remained stuck in Afghanistan.

I received panic messages from my Afghan friendsexplains human rights activist Corey Levine, who worked on the ground in Afghanistan and knew several of these MPs. They told me: ”The Taliban have come, I have my weapon, I’m going to kill myself. There are dead bodies in the street, can you help me?”

Corey – that’s what everyone calls him – then decides to call on elected officials in Ottawa to help him bring these women and their families to Canada and, above all, to put pressure on the Federal Ministry of Immigration: I told myself that Canadian parliamentarians should feel concerned by this situation.she explains in an interview.

This is an important issue for all of usrecognizes curator Alex Ruff, in an interview with his colleagues in Ottawa. The Ontario MP served twice in Afghanistan for the Canadian Armed Forces, during a first mission in 2007 and during a second with theI’LL TAKE in 2012.

It has nothing to do with partisanship. This is a cause that Canada must defend.

Much of the work of Canadian elected officials takes place far from the cameras, to protect the safety of women and avoid alerting the Taliban to their actions.

Too late for Mursal

Corey and the team of federal MPs began working together in the fall of 2022. A few months later, in January 2023, they held a Zoom meeting, during which Alex Ruff served a warning to his colleagues: If one of these women ever dies before we can get her out of Afghanistan, I’m going to be as public as possible.

And yet, five days later, one of these women, Mursal Nabizada, was killed in her home with her bodyguard, at the age of 32.

I was cryingsays New Democrat Heather McPherson today. It was the worst news.

Corey also has difficulty holding back tears when talking about this story: She was an incredible woman.

After losing one, Mr. Ruff notes, we knew we couldn’t lose any more.

But the months pass and the Afghan elected officials are still stuck in their country. In November 2023, Corey decides to go there to speed things up.

Papers, logistics, visas, she helps a total of six MPs and their families make the perilous road to Pakistan. Sometimes, she even physically accompanies the women to the border.

In a video she shot on her cell phone, we see women, crammed into a vehicle, leaving in the middle of the night and passing through checkpoints: This whole road is dangerous, no one is safe heresays Nilofer, one of the Afghan MPs on the run, to whom we have given a fictitious name.

She asked us to hide her identity to protect some of her relatives, still in Afghanistan. In the car, Nilofer proclaims, tense, but visibly relieved: This day that we have been waiting for for a year and a half has arrived.

Even once outside Afghanistan, however, the journey is far from over. Several Afghan elected officials find themselves stuck in Pakistan, waiting for their papers from the federal government, with the threat of being sent back to their country.

This, among other things, is what the group of Canadian elected officials worked on: putting pressure on Ottawa and even threatening to come out publicly if authorizations to come to Canada did not arrive more quickly.

Officials move very, very slowlyrecognizes Marcus Powlowski, one of the two liberals in the group of Canadian parliamentarians. I, for one, am still frustrated with our government over assistance for Afghanistan. At the same timehe adds, there is security issues to consider.

Security is also the main reason, mentioned by the Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, in an interview, to explain this long process: If it was just one person, it would be easier to proceed, to bring them to Canada very quickly, but we are talking about extended families, dozens of people.

He specifies that there may be lost papersa lot logistics to consider, sometimes even errors and he doesn’t don’t leave things to chance. It is really necessary, he adds, ensure work is done diligently.

Yes, it takes time, but in this case, I think these are great victories.

In total, among the 12 MPs that Corey and Canadian elected officials tried to bring, 6 made it to Canada, including Nilofer, now based in British Columbia.

At least one woman is still waiting in Pakistan, with the threat of being sent back to Afghanistan. Some have been refused access to Canada by the Immigration Department.

A bittersweet moment at Pearson

And then there’s the family of Mursal Nabizada, the MP killed in her home, whom Corey helped get out of Afghanistan. After months stuck in Pakistan, his mother, Shakira, and three brothers, Roheen, Yasir and Sahib, are finally on their way to Toronto.

They are the ones Corey and the group of Canadian MPs are waiting for, flowers and balloons in hand, at Pearson airport.

The plane, from Istanbul, arrived two hours ago, but Mursal’s relatives have still not come out, caught in the pile of forms to fill out. The deputies find refuge at the bar and laugh, all seated around the same table.

Around 10 p.m., finally, a cry of joy. Shakira and her sons arrive, rushing into Corey’s arms. Canadian elected officials embrace them as if they have known each other forever.

I am really grateful to the Canadian government and the important people here, who helped us and who will help me raise my childrensaid Shakira, in hesitant English.

This evening, it’s very emotional, adds Bloc member Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe. We have demonstrated that we are capable of working together, regardless of political orientations. Above all, we were inspired by the courage of a woman, who is not here tonight, who should be with the rest of us.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May bursts into tears as she hugs Shakira: I’m so sorry we couldn’t save Mursal.

It was her mother who found the words to describe this bittersweet moment, this feeling of failure mixed with immense joy for her loved ones to finally be in Canada: Mursal had lots of dreams. Now, it is her brothers who will try to be inspired by her.

With the collaboration of Marie Chabot-Johnson, Andréanne Apablaza and Melissa Mancini