Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard, the Conservatives' shadow minister for ethics and accountable government, has been appointed to a special House of Commons committee created to investigate the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban and Canada’s response.
On Aug. 15, 2021, Taliban forces took control of Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul.
The new committee will shine a spotlight on the government’s handling of the crisis and its promise to bring 40,000 Afghans to Canada and present a report to Parliament within six months.
Brassard, who formerly served as shadow minister of veteran affairs, told BarrieToday that despite his respect for the military, this committee has nothing to do with the armed forces.
“We have a growing Afghan community in Barrie, Innisfil and the surrounding area and I was getting calls from people who were concerned about the growing situation in Afghanistan,” said Brassard.
“Back in July when this started evolving, or devolving rather, I was on the phone to an interpreter who had helped the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. He was giving me an update essentially as it was happening. He feared for his life and that of his family," said the MP.
Brassard said the interpreter is now safely in Canada thanks to the help of veterans who made arrangements with the Afghan National Army to fly a helicopter “basically to his house and get him to a safe haven.”
The 12-member all-party committee was created through a Conservative motion that passed with support of the Bloc Quebecois and NDP. Brassard said all Liberal MPs but one voted against the motion.
He said he hopes he and the committee can put together the report that is needed to show what exactly happened.
In a previous statement, Brassard said the current federal government was aware that U.S. troops were withdrawing from Afghanistan and “had months to plan to evacuate Canadians, Afghan interpreters and others who fought alongside our troops.”
“There was so much chaos and confusion as people were emailed and told to show up to meeting places before heading to the airports wearing red so as to be identifiable as Canadian citizens so as to get them out of there,” said Brassard. “Well, the Taliban was looking for identifiable Canadians and that was not the safest thing at all.
"I’m still getting names of Canadian citizens and the names of those who helped Canadian Forces, who are being hunted over there. This is a matter of life and death and we need to help," said Brassard.
The committee held its first meeting last week.
