Then–foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly personally approved a closed-door ceremony where federal diplomats celebrated their own flight from Kabul in 2021, internal records show.
Blacklock's Reporter says the event, billed as a “good news story,” was held at department headquarters in Ottawa with no reporters allowed.
Access To Information memos described the Afghanistan Evacuation Recognition Ceremony as the only government event to recognize staff for their role in abandoning the embassy ahead of the Taliban takeover.
More than 500 employees were invited, though only about 80 showed up on October 26, 2022.
“This is a private event, by invitation only,” staff were told. Twenty-five employees received Awards of Excellence for their escape, while managers promised “a more inclusive means” of recognizing others who fled the mission.
Photographs were later circulated internally, along with word that a $9,214 plaque would be installed in the lobby of Foreign Affairs headquarters to commemorate the withdrawal.
The plaque praised the “incredible contribution” of staff who evacuated.
The celebration stood in stark contrast to testimony at 2023 Commons hearings, where witnesses called the evacuation “embarrassing.”
Canada was the first ally to close its embassy, leaving on August 12, three days before the Taliban seized Kabul.
The ambassador and other diplomats left aboard a half-empty plane, abandoning 1,290 Canadians and thousands of Afghan allies who were told by social media to hide from Taliban gunmen.
Retired Major-General Dean Milner, Canada’s last combat commander in the region, told MPs the sudden withdrawal shocked those still on the ground.
“We were the first embassy to depart,” he said. “That was very embarrassing for a lot of us.”
Joly, questioned in 2022 about why Canada pulled out early, told MPs she had no explanation. “Hindsight is 20-20,” she testified.
Despite the unanswered questions, the department told staff their work during the retreat “unquestionably deserves the highest level of recognition and gratitude.”
