Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Paul Watson

Federal Immigration Dept: Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has acknowledged that Afghan battlefield interpreters faced extraordinary personal risk working with Canadian troops in war-torn Kandahar, often under fire. He promised they d get special consideration relocating here, according to The Star. As Star writer Paul Watson reported on Sunday, Sharifi got preliminary approval last July to move to Canada. Then the Star ran a story on the bureaucratic hurdles facing those, including Sharifi, on the so-called fast track. Soon after, Canadian officials raised the Star story with Sharifi during an interview. They then decided that there were credibility issues with his application, that he had failed to prove he faces individualized and extraordinary risk, and turned him down and if a man who has put his life on the line for Canada s military hasn t earned a chance to immigrate to this country, who has? That s a question Prime Minister Stephen Harper s office should be asking federal immigration officials. They don t seem to get it. Yet his department has just denied a visa to Sayed Shah Sharifi, an interpreter who won high praise from his former boss, Capt. Alexander Duncan. Sayed is a highly intelligent, educated, multilingual man who would contribute greatly to Canada as a citizen, Duncan wrote in support of his visa application. Like other interpreters, Sharifi has faced the perils of combat, has been threatened by the Taliban, and has feared for his family. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.