Canadian politicians had been working to get former Afghan MP Mursal Nabizada to safety before she was gunned down in Kabul over the weekend.
Alex Ruff, one of six Canadian MPs who have been collaborating behind the scenes since last October to fast-track immigration for Nabizada and eight other female Afghan MPs who remain in Afghanistan, told CBC “it was devastating news and very tragic,” that she had been killed.
Details around Nabizada’s death are unclear but Taliban police have said she was killed by unknown gunmen, along with her bodyguard and that the attack took place at her home overnight Saturday.
Ruff told CBC the group of Canadian MPs came together “to advocate for their (Afghan women MPs) really urgent movement to safety and to come to Canada.”
Another one of the group, Alexis-Brunelle Duceppe, said: “We cannot lose another woman that is on that list. We cannot afford that. We have a responsibility.”
“This government is supposedly a feminist government. Well, it has to prove it,” Duceppe said.
Canada’s federal government has pledged to bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada. Since August 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says that 27,345 Afghans have arrived here under various programs.
