A new organization has recently been established to assist Canada in meeting its aim of resettling 20,000 Afghan refugees.

Lifeline Afghanistan is a non-partisan group of Canadians that want to increase awareness of Afghan refugee resettlement, act as a coordinator, and help Afghans find safety in Canada.

While the Canadian government has stated that it will resettle 20,000 Afghan refugees, comments made by several political parties during the current federal election campaign suggest that this number may rise.

Since the 1970s, private Canadians have played a significant role in assisting refugees in their transition to Canada. The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program was established in Canada as the first in the world (PSRP)

Since its inception, the PSRP has enabled private Canadians to sponsor the admission of refugees, resulting in the resettlement of over 400,000 refugees. Soon after the PSRP was launched, private Canadians launched the Operation Lifeline program, which used the PSRP to help resettle 70,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

In 2015, private Canadians created Lifeline Syria, continuing the “lifeline” tradition. Since then, almost 80,000 Syrian refugees have been relocated to Canada.

Lifeline Afghanistan will build on Lifeline Syria’s accomplishments to achieve five goals:

• Increase public knowledge and participation in the sponsorship of Afghan refugees;
• Curate resources and link with organizations that provide humanitarian relief, advocacy, settlement, service provision, research, and other services to Afghan refugees;
• Work with Sponsorship Agreement Holders and others to encourage Canadians to participate in private sponsorship and to give practical assistance to make the process easier;
• Work with businesses and service providers to build pathways to economic and social participation by supporting skills evaluation and trauma-informed approaches to skill development;
• Encourage evidence-based, collaborative, and innovative approaches to assist refugees.

According to the website of Lifeline Afghanistan, Afghanistan now has 3.5 million internally displaced persons and 2.2 million refugees and asylum seekers in neighboring countries.