Afghan interpreters welcomed to Canada

Dangerous work rewarded with citizenship

OTTAWA A special program to offer a new life in Canada to people who acted as interpreters for Canadian soldiers and diplomats in Afghanistan — sometimes at the risk of their lives — has brought in nearly double the numbers expected.

Officials had planned for only 450 Afghans to eventually make the move when they began a special immigration program for interpreters and their families in 2009.

With Canada’s combat mission ended and a year after the program stopped accepting applications, about 800 former interpreters and their families are now living across the country.

The original estimate was based on consultations with the military and Foreign Affairs Department about the number of interpreters or cultural advisers used by soldiers and diplomats in Kandahar, says Citizenship and Immigration.

‘Terps, as they were known, were the eyes, ears and mouths for soldiers on the battlefield, and diplomats in the meeting rooms of Afghanistan.

In addition to translating, they helped teach Canadians the culture and customs of the country, and many were often called upon to help shore up the often-strained relationships between soldiers and locals.

But the work was risky. Between 2006 and 2011, at least six interpreters were killed alongside Canadian soldiers, and many others were wounded.

The risk followed them off the fighting fields, and many interpreters reported being followed or harassed by the Taliban because they helped the Canadians.

Some found themselves ostracized by their families and friends, lest the Taliban come after them as well.

Allied countries set up programs to help endangered workers leave Afghanistan as militaries began pulling out. Canada followed suit in 2009, designing a policy to fast-track their entry as permanent residents.

It required applicants to have worked for 12 months for the Canadian government between 2007 and 2011 and to show their lives were in danger.

Deadlines were controversial. Some of the bloodiest fighting in Kandahar was in 2006.

CPL. SIMON DUCHESNE/KPRT Photographer Sgt. Tim Seeley, centre, speaks with a Kandahar City resident in 2008 with the help of an Afghan interpreter, right. Canada has helped hundreds of interpreters become permanent residents of Canada.