OTTAWA — Senators are concerned that a long-delayed Liberal bill aimed at unblocking Canadian aid in Afghanistan will bog down development groups in red tape and block access based on prejudicial bureaucracy.
"We have been creative within the confines of the law," Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told the Senate human-rights committee Monday evening.
He was speaking hours after the House passed Bill C-41, which comes more than a year after many Canadian allies issued exemptions in their terrorism laws for aid workers.
The Criminal Code currently bars Canadian aid workers from paying taxes for any labour or goods in Afghanistan, as doing so could lead to prosecution for financially supporting the governing Taliban, which Ottawa designates as a terrorist group.
Bill C-41 would allow development workers, such as those building schools, to apply for exemptions to do their work. Following amendments from the Conservatives and the NDP, it would also enact a blanket exemption for humanitarian workers providing life-saving aid in response to emergencies.
Yet senators raised concerns to Mendicino about how the bill will actually be enforced, such as how bureaucrats will weigh applications for waivers. Sen. Mobina Jaffer said Afghan-Canadians are particularly worried they will face increased scrutiny when seeking exemptions from terrorism laws.
"How do you define impartial? Because that's not the community's experience of how the various departments have defined impartial," Jaffer told Mendicino.
"You know that that's subjective, and the community is nervous."
Mendicino insisted that civil servants are impartial and noted that courts can review any rejected application.
Sen. Salma Ataullahjan urged the government to act fast, noting that peer countries enacted exemptions within months of the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
Ataullahjan was born in Pakistan, and like many Afghans is of Pashtun origin. She noted UNICEF reported in April that an estimated 167 children die in Afghanistan each day due to preventable diseases.
"It's my people, so it does of course affect me," she said.
Ataullahjan also asked Mendicino how the legislation will test whether the benefits of permitting an activity outweigh the risks of terrorist financing. The minister said he’s committed to a non-discriminatory process but said it hadn’t been fully ironed out.
"Coming up with objective principles will be an urgent exercise as we implement the bill," Mendicino said.
Some senators pressed Mendicino for a rough timeline on how long it will take applications to be processed, after aid groups sought a service standard from the government, while acknowledging these timelines might vary based on the breadth of the work.
"We're going to do everything that we can to come up with a process that is efficient," Mendicino testified.
The senators noted, however, that both departments handling applications -- Global Affairs Canada and Immigration, and Refugees and Citizenship Canada -- have been beset by long delays for visas and sanctions waivers.
"It's very difficult in a hypothetical, to comment on how long something will take," IRCC policy director Selena Beattie told senators, but she added the bureaucracy would prioritize urgent requests.
"We would be prepared to do that assessment quite quickly -- we are getting ready and making great strides."
The House passed Bill C-41 Monday afternoon with support from all parties except the NDP, who said it violates aid workers' independence if they have to seek government permission to do their work abroad.
"The principle of third-party authorization — effectively forcing Canadian aid agencies to seek permission of the Government of Canada to do their important work in fragile contexts abroad — is unprecedented and unacceptable," NDP foreign-affairs critic Heather McPherson wrote in a statement.
During Monday's hearings, Adeena Niazi, executive director of the Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services, urged Ottawa to move quickly.
She said her group has had to decline donations from Canadians meant to help a country where children are being ravaged by malnutrition, disease and forced labour.
"It was extremely difficult to witness the Afghan people being punished by these laws."
Senators will deliberate whether to further amend the bill, though aid groups asked Monday that they instead pass it in its current form instead of running the risk of putting it in limbo when Parliament takes its looming summer recess.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2023.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
