'Very very happy': Saskatoon welcomes flight carrying 314 Afghan nationals

Hundreds of Afghan nationals were brought to Saskatoon on a charter flight from Pakistan on Thursday.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said they will be settling in several Canadian communities including Ottawa, Surrey, and Toronto.

“Today, 314 Afghan nationals arrived in Saskatoon on a charter flight from Pakistan. They will continue their journey to approximately 32 communities across Canada,” IRCC said Thursday.

Canada has brought more than 45,000 Afghan refugees since August 2021 following the Taliban's return to power in the country and after the U.S. withdrawal of troops from the country after 20 years of war.

Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, they’ve enacted several oppressive measures targeting the freedom and education of women.

Taliban have banned women from going to school beyond the sixth grade and barred them from most areas of public life and work.

“There is no job in Afghanistan, there no education after Taliban came to power,” Irfanullah Noori said.

(Chad Hills/CTV News)

Noori along with 113 other Afghan refugees landed in Saskatoon on Thursday, after waiting 18 months in Islamabad, Pakistan to get his travel documents completed.

“I came to Canada to have a better future, to study, and to support my family,” he said.

Some of his family members, including his father and brother, who worked with the Canadian army in Afghanistan, came to Canada months ago.

Noori said he still has some family members living in Afghanistan, concerning the Taliban’s prosecution.

Noori said he is very happy that he managed to leave Pakistan as some of his friends and other Afghans were deported back to Afghanistan.

Pakistan has deported more than 450,000 Afghan refugees since last November after Islamabad began expelling more than a million undocumented foreigners including Afghans, according to Reuters.

When Noori was asked how he was feeling about escaping the chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he responded with a nice smile. “Very very happy,” he said.

For Noori, who has family members in Saskatoon, it will be easy to settle and follow his dreams, but for many others who don’t have family members here, the settlement process will be more challenging.

(Chad Hills/CTN News)

Saskatoon Open Door Society (SODS) CEO Ali Abukar said his team of 150 people including volunteers from the community will help newcomers to settle in here.

“Our main thing as an agency that helps refugees, is we always to think about the safety of people. These people are vulnerable,” he said.

“As an agency that provides refugee resettlement programs, one of our main job is to do initial settlement for refugees. And we also connect them with services, we help them with setup.”

Of 314 newcomers, around 40 of them will stay in Saskatoon, 50 will head to other cities within Saskatchewan, while the rest will go to other communities across the country, according to Abukar.

Along with the SODS staff, community volunteers also rushed to the airport today to welcome newcomers and help them with their initial needs.

“I had a little extra time and wanted to help out … this is a great opportunity to help others,” community volunteer John Guselle said.

SODS asks communities to support the agency by donating their time or money.