On Tuesday, Ottawa announced that more than 250 Afghan refugees have arrived in Canada, including 170 human rights defenders.

The federal government argued in a press release that “many new arrivals today have worked for decades documenting human rights abuses in Afghanistan, and intend to continue their work in Canada with the help of Canadian and international NGOs.”

Newcomers will begin their lives in Canada in quarantine, before receiving assistance to resettle in the country, it has been determined.

It is a great honor to welcome today this group of Afghan refugees, who are at risk of persecution for their work protecting the human rights of others. […] I am grateful to them for their work documenting and preventing human rights abuses, and I am proud that they now feel at home in our country,” commented Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Sean Fraser.

So far, about 6,750 Afghan nationals have been welcomed into the country after the fall of Afghanistan, which returned to Taliban control after the departure of international forces.