‘I Did Not Order a Rescue’: Sajjan Defends 2021 Evacuation of Sikhs From Afghanistan

Former Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, now minister of emergency preparedness, in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

Former Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan defended the attempted rescue mission of Sikhs during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying it was part of a government policy of evacuating vulnerable individuals to Canada that had been discussed months before the fall of Kabul.

Sajjan, who is currently minister of emergency preparedness, said during a Nov. 5 appearance before the Commons Defence Committee that the government had planned to evacuate “vulnerable communities” such as women leaders, journalists, LGBTQ2+ individuals, and persecuted religious minorities, “which included Sikhs and Hindus.”

An organization called the Manmeet Singh Bhullar Foundation reached out to Sajjan at the end of August about a group of more than 200 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus who had been approved by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for evacuation to Canada. He said he passed this information on to the chain of command.

“The group was instructed to make their way to a specific location near the airport to link up with the Canadian soldiers. Unfortunately, the link-up never happened,” he said.

“I just want to emphasize, I did not order a rescue mission. I passed along information from a Canadian NGO partner about a group of vulnerable people who were cleared for humanitarian evacuation to Canada. I followed and executed government policy.”

The Globe and Mail published a story in July that Sajjan instructed Canadian special forces to launch a rescue mission of 225 Afghan Sikhs who had no connection to Canada during the fall of Kabul in August 2021. The story, which was based on anonymous sources, said the Sikhs were not considered an operational priority for the military, whose limited resources could have been used to extract Canadians or allies.

In response to the article, Sajjan had said it was the Canadian government’s policy to rescue vulnerable Afghans, which included religious minorities like Sikhs and Hindus. Sajjan, who was Canada’s first Sikh defence minister, added that if he “wasn’t wearing a turban” he did not think he would be questioned on the rescue.

After the article was published, Bloc Québécois MPs Christine Normandin and Stéphane Bergeron wrote a letter asking the federal government to investigate the rescue mission. “The thought the minister of Defence would have wilfully decided to abandon Canadians or Afghans having helped Canada to prioritize other religious or ethnic groups is revolting,” the MPs wrote in a June 28 letter.

Sajjan Calls Globe and Mail Article ‘Inaccurate’

Sajjan told the committee that the Globe and Mail article was “inaccurate” because it suggested the Sikhs were not included in the Canadian government’s policy. “My clear point here is that the Globe article kind of insinuated that I gave special treatment to Sikhs, for instance, because they look like me,” he said.

“I want to make it very clear here that it was actually government policy that I was executing, and it is just a coincidence that the Minister of National Defence at that time, me, just happened to look like them and share a similar religion.”

Conservative MP Don Stewart questioned an Aug. 13 IRCC press release that announced a special program to welcome the vulnerable groups from Afghanistan. “Did it change the prioritization away from Canadians, per se, and permanent residents, interpreters and fixers, to prioritize other groups?” he asked.

Sajjan responded that while the other groups were added to the special immigration program, they were not prioritized.

When Conservative MP James Bezan asked if the Canadian Armed Forces had expressed “any concern about the change in direction,” Sajjan replied that it was a government policy, not a change in direction.

“[The Canadian Armed Forces] executed that policy. One thing I assure you, when it comes to the people who they work with, they did their absolute 110 percent to make sure that they supported everyone during the evacuation,” he said.