Former general says Ottawa must help former translator’s family escape Taliban

OTTAWA – A former top general says it would be “unconscionable” for Ottawa to allow the family of an Afghan translator who risked his life to help Canadian soldiers to be deported back to Afghanistan.

Retired general Rick Hillier, a former chief of the defence staff, said it would be appalling if Canada failed to help the ex-translator’s sister, who fled to Turkey from Afghanistan but has been denied permission to remain in that country.

“That would be unconscionable, if she ends up getting deported from Turkey and has to go back to Afghanistan to live under that brutal Taliban regime — who hate women just as a starting point,” Hillier told The Canadian Press in a recent interview.

“We can do better.”

The woman and her children fled Afghanistan and the Taliban in 2018. That was too early to qualify them for a special, temporary federal policy designed to bring the extended families of former military language and cultural advisers to Canada.

Now, she said she fears that she and her 22-year-old son will soon face deportation from Turkey and reprisals in Afghanistan because her brother assisted Canadian troops.

Hillier said adhering too closely to the policy’s strict time frame “would be ludicrous in the extreme.”

“Let’s not get stuck on a bureaucratic number,” he said, adding that the woman “needs our support because her brother supported and served us.”

The woman said she believes the Taliban killed her husband in 2013 because of her brother’s work with Canadian troops. The Canadian Press has agreed to not publish the names of members of the family because of the threat posed by the Taliban.

Her brother, a Canadian citizen who worked under the code name “Sam” for the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan 15 years ago, has written letters to Immigration Minister Lena Diab and Prime Minister Mark Carney, to no avail.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said it cannot comment on specific cases due to privacy legislation.

“The government of Canada takes the safety and security of Afghans extremely seriously and we sympathize with people in this extremely difficult situation. For reasons of privacy and security, we are unable to provide specific details, even with the consent of the person in question,” said department spokesperson Danielle Hickey in an emailed statement.

Sam also has raised the matter with the office of the Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman. He said he is running out of both time and places to turn for help.

Sam and two other former military language and cultural advisers — whose families also did not qualify under the policy — challenged the government over the policy in Federal Court. Their case was dismissed earlier this summer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2025.