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OTTAWA — The sister of a man who worked as an interpreter for the Canadian Armed Forces during the war in Afghanistan says she fears she will be deported back to her former home, where she could face violent reprisal at the hands of the Taliban.
The mother of six and her children escaped the war-torn country by fleeing to Turkey in 2018 — too early to qualify for a special temporary program that helped bring family members of military language and cultural advisers to Canada.
That program only applied to family members who were still in Afghanistan on or after July 22, 2021, shortly before Kabul fell to the Taliban.
While her brother told The Canadian Press most of her children have now married Canadians — which permits them to apply to come to Canada — she and her unmarried 22-year-old son believe they face deportation after receiving a notice from the Turkish government this week denying them refugee status, and after being told verbally by Turkish officials that they must leave the country.
She said she believes the Taliban killed her husband in 2013 because her brother helped Canadian troops. The Canadian Press has agreed to not publish her name because of the threat she faces from the Taliban.
“My whole family has been crying,” she said in Pashto, interpreted by her brother. “They’re in immense stress. I’m still thinking, what will happen to me?”
Her brother said she and her son do not know if they have the means to file an appeal of the immigration decision, which must be done within two weeks.
She said that while they have been living in Turkey for years, they have faced discrimination, have been unable to find proper work and have nothing to return to in Afghanistan.
Her brother, a Canadian citizen who was given the code name “Sam” by the Canadian military, worked on the ground in Afghanistan 15 years ago helping Canadian troops navigate the country as a language and cultural adviser.
“If she were to be deported, she will clearly be executed by the same government, by the same people that we fought … that were at that time insurgents, and now they are in power,” said Sam, adding he suffers from PTSD due to his service.
The Canadian government hired several dozen Afghan language and cultural advisers during the war to act as the military’s eyes and ears in the field. Many have come back to Canada only to face immense struggles in getting access to social supports, such as health care.
Sam said he has taken his case to senior officials in Ottawa for years and even wrote to Prime Minister Mark Carney. He said he constantly ran up against bureaucratic roadblocks and officials keen to redirect him to other offices.
He said his family and those of two other Afghan language and cultural advisers were barred from coming to Canada through Ottawa’s special temporary program, which shut down in 2023.
He said he and the other two advisers challenged the matter in Federal Court, arguing that Canada discriminated against them. They argued that the federal government set relatively generous terms for a special program for Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion and imposed more rigid conditions on the program for the families of Afghan language and cultural advisers.
That court challenge failed earlier this summer. Because the judge in the case found the application moot, it can’t be appealed.
“Right now, it just has to be a political move of the government doing the right thing … taking care of the people whose families are at risk due to service to Canada,” said Nicholas Pope, a lawyer for the three former military advisers.
“It’s really devastating,” Pope said of the sister’s situation. “This is just a massive failure of the system.”
“Sam” has been pressing Ottawa to help his family since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021. He enlisted the help of his local MP, Conservative Scott Reid, who raised the issue in Parliament.
He said that after the court challenge ended, he sought help from a local church to no avail. He said he does not know where else to turn for help.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not respond by deadline when asked about the case.
“Sam” said he now “wholeheartedly” regrets working with the Canadian military.
“They just lied to us. They put us in a situation where they used us and now here’s the rewards of it,” he said.
“My only question (to the government) would be … was it worth it for me to go and save so many lives, and then at the same time sacrifice my own family?”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2025.
Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press
