Risking Their Lives For Which Country?

"In a way we are being punished for our services because, frankly speaking, we were the eyes and ears of the Canadian government on the ground." 

"We risked our lives and our families' lives and this is the reward we get ..."

"It could not be any more un-Canadian."

Afghan, formerly locally engaged at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul

"We can't forget that these Afghans put their lives on the line to assist Canadian diplomats and armed forces during the war and in its aftermath."

"We owe them a debt of gratitude."

Member of Parliament Michael Chong, co-chair, Afghanistan committee

"In the last few years, when there was a large number of targeted assassinations ... we felt a lot of danger going and coming from the office."

"Many of us did receive [threats]."

Afghan, formerly locally engaged at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul

The entrance gate of Canada's embassy in Kabul after Canadians evacuated, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR /AFP via Getty Images/File

Canada rescued many but not all of the Afghan citizens who had worked for the Canadian Embassy, for Canadian troops stationed in Afghanistan as interpreters, office workers, and in many other capacities. They took these positions presumably because they welcomed a foreign presence in their troubled country, so long abandoned to conflict between religious factions, the population's liberty held under threat by the fundamentalist Islamist Taliban. They also worked in these positions to be paid salaries far in excess of what Afghans normally earn.

The entry of a UN-approved, NATO/US-sponsored mission to find Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda forces and oust the Taliban, sheltering them in Afghanistan while governing the country as a theocratic Islamist dictatorship succeeded for the years of the military occupation at keeping the Taliban -- supported, trained and armed by the Inter-Agency Services of the Pakistani government -- at bay. When the Taliban finally returned to power on the strength of overwhelming Afghan government troops through violent insurrection, NATO nations departed under a disastrous agreement between the Taliban and the U.S.

Most of those nations felt obligated to help Afghan nationals who would be targeted in revenge action by the Taliban, to escape their country of origin, and Canada was among them. Thousands of Afghan civilians and their families were flown at their request, from Afghanistan where they felt threatened, to Canada, to be re-settled there as landed immigrants. While Canadian servicemen and those assigned to the mission felt a loyalty to the safety of the Afghans who had worked among them, the Afghans now living in Canada courtesy of the government and the generosity of taxpayer, feel themselves put upon.

People who live in undeveloped or under-developed, or developing countries envy a Canadian way of life because they have the impression that Canada is a wealthy society. And it is. Yet that same wealthy society has among its population an economically poor demographic of people living hand-to-mouth, supported by governmental social services and charity. The Afghan citizens, now in Canada as landed immigrants and heading toward citizenship, were gifted entry to Canada, and social supports on arrival.

 

They were also the recipients of large cash payouts representing severance and pension payouts since they were of necessity laid off when Canada closed its embassy on the return to power of the Taliban. That cash payout was taxed; in instances where the payout amounted to a lump sum of $300,000, the tax deducted was $130,000. The recipients of the payouts paying tax on the funds are outraged; claimng it to be un-Canadian. How so? And what would they know about Canadian taxation, which in fact, paid for their rescue?

 

Photo: Reuters

 

When Canadians abroad are in trouble, are robbed, lose their passports and their money, they call on Canadian consular officials for aid. Who then go about effecting their return to Canada. Their Canadian bank accounts are accessed to fund their airfare returning to Canada. If they have no banked funds, the government uses tax dollars to return them to Canada, to the nearest point of entry, allows them an amount of cash, and they're on their own.

Those complaining of being taxed on funds they feel they are entitled to, join Canadians in protesting high taxes, and at the same time understanding that taxes fund the services they receive as Canadians. Claiming that their actions in working for Canadian aid agencies, military and the diplomatic mission in Kabul was a sacrifice for Canada, putting their lives on the line, have a strangely skewed perspective. 

 

In actual fact, they sacrificed themselves for their country, envisioning the kind of government they would vastly prefer to live under. And it was their hope to attain that kind of government for their country that they 'risked their lives' for. Canada was merely an instrument hoping to help Afghanistan approach that goal. And the initiative failed.

Canada's gratitude to those whom they employed as 'locally engaged' in the Kabul mission should be matched by the locally-employed, flown to Canada with their families to ensure their safety and allow them a different future for themselves. This complaint over helping to pay their way is ungracious and unseemly. Taxation, in this instance, is logical and it is fair. 

 

Welcome to Canada.

Entitled just so much, and no more.

"[Taxation is based on residency status at the time of payment] and not where the money was earned."

"In the case of Kabul LES [locally engaged staff], they have the permanent residence, a Canadian bank account and social security numbers and this being said, they have established significant residential ties in Canada."

Information mailed to LES by Global Affairs Canada

RCAF operates large evacuation flight from Kabul