Hundreds Of Afghan Translators Coming To Canada

[murphyj87]

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/07/15/hundreds-of-afghan-translators-coming-to-canada_n_900081.html

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says hundreds of Afghan translators who risked their lives working with Canadian troops in Afghanistan and continue to be at risk will be moving to Canada in the next few months.

Kenney originally announced the "fast-track" program a couple of years ago to help Afghans who face what he called "extraordinary personal risk'' by working with Canadians in Kandahar.

"We've received a few hundred applications. We are expecting that we'll probably end up admitting about 550 people who qualify for the program, which exceeds our original estimate of about 450," Kenney said in an interview with The Canadian Press Friday.

[PotatoChip]

1. Thank you Canada

I hope we do the same for Afghan translators who helped/are helping us. But I doubt it. We really don't have a great track record when it comes to civilians in other countries who are no longer 'of use' to us.

[MineralMan]

2. The large Hmong community in Minnesota would disagree

with you. We also have a growing community of Somali refugees here. The influx of Vietnamese people into the United States in the years after the war are also evidence that you are exaggerating. Perhaps you are not looking closely at our track record.

[Igel]

3. So Pakhtun/English translation isn't a good career to plan on?

But seriously, I don't know to what extent their lives would be at risk. Many would want to come not because of the danger of being shot for having been a translator/interpreter but for economic reasons. Disaggregating the two would be difficult.

On the other hand, Afghanistan's going to need English/Pakhtun (etc.) translators from the get-go and a lot of them are going to be in Canada.

[murphyj87]

4. If...

If you look at the bottom part of the article, it details some of the details of why they are in danger.

In December 2009, an interpreter working for the Canadian Forces was gunned down in Kandahar City. Local police blamed the Taliban.

At least six interpreters have died alongside Canadian soldiers and an unknown number have been wounded by roadside bombs.

Others have seen their family members kidnapped or assassinated, a direct result of their ties to coalition troops.

They earn between $600 and $900 a month, but they rarely tell their family or friends where the money is coming from.

In the field, they keep their faces covered at all times and only use nicknames. They refuse to be photographed.

Interpreters have received night letters, which are used by the Taliban as a form of intimidation. They refuse to answer the door at night and often change the regular routes they take.