Canadian Minister for Gender Equality Maryam Monsef referred to the Taliban as “our brothers, the Taliban” during a press conference Wednesday, asking the terror group to allow Afghans to leave the country.
Minister Monsef, a member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party, referred to the Taliban as “brothers” during a press conference that featured a number of Canadian ministers updating the Canadian public on the situation in Afghanistan.
“I want to take this opportunity to speak to our brothers the Taliban; we call on you to ensure the safe and secure passage of any individual in Afghanistan out of the country,” Monsef, herself an Afghani born in Iran, said.
“We call on you to immediately stop the violence, the genocide, the femicide, the destruction of infrastructure, including heritage buildings,” she added.
Monsef also spoke of the Canadian government looking to resettle “tens of thousands” of Afghan nationals.
The minister also called for help from Canada’s Afghan diaspora for the “second phase” of Canada’s operations which she described as “the resettlement of tens of thousands of Afghans who have already made their way out of the country, or are about to, to process them and to bring them on to Canadian soil.”
According to parliamentary reporter Christopher Nardi, Minister Monsef has been referring to the Taliban as “brothers” since at least three days prior to the Wednesday press conference.
Breitbart has contacted Monsef for comment on her fraternal feelings towards the Taliban but at the time of publication has received no reply.
Monsef’s comments come just a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada still considers the Taliban a terrorist entity and said his government is highly sceptical that the group has changed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
Monsef’s reference to the Taliban as “brothers” has also been met with criticism from populist People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier, a noted critic of Canada’s Wuhan coronavirus lockdowns.
“No one should be surprised that Maryam Monsef considers the Taliban ‘our brothers’. Her boss admires China’s dictatorship and Castro. He’s turning into a wannabe tyrant,” Bernier said on Twitter and added, “It’s just another proof that today’s woke Left has an authoritarian mindset.”
While Mr Bernier, a former Canadian minister himself, has been barred from taking part in the Canadian party leaders debates ahead of the September 20th general election, his party has seen a recent surge in polling.
A Mainstreet Research/iPolitics poll put the party at 7.4 per cent nationally, ahead of both the separatist Bloc Quebecois and the Green Party, both of which are expected to participate in the debates.
In Alberta, one of the most conservative areas of Canada, the PCC polled in second place, ahead of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.
Minister Monsef’s comments are just the latest issue for the Liberals after just over a week of election campaigning and come after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland had a Twitter post flagged as “manipulated media” after she posted a highly edited clip of Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole.
Mathew Clancy, the Conservatives’ manager of media relations, accused the Liberals of “spreading misinformation,” while Prime Minister Trudeau defended the post, saying the entire interview had been posted later in the Twitter thread.