Some migrants and refugees who made the arduous trek to the United States — many at great peril to their lives — have begun to cross over the border into Canada in fear of our southern neighbours' new administration.
Some migrants and refugees who made the arduous trek to the United States — many at great peril to their lives — have begun to cross over the border into Canada in fear of our southern neighbours' new administration.
Already, many Canadians are expressing concerns. In fact according to a recent poll, almost half of us want to deport anyone who comes to this country illegally from the U.S.
While there are those who might make a more reasonable argument about how jumping the queue at the border is unfair to all those who have spent the time and money to enter our country legitimately, there remains altogether too many Canadians who seem convinced that every single immigrant from the Middle East is nothing more than a potential terrorist. Such prejudice is sadly based on discriminatory stereotypes.
Let's face it — the bulk of these migrants would most likely never have left their homes in the first place if they truly felt they had an opportunity to live a decent life without having to uproot from everything they know only to face a dangerous, unpredictable journey. But being stuck in perpetual conflict zones, that between coalition airstrikes and Islamist extremists cause daily causalities, must act as a rather powerful motivator for a family that would relish for just one day going to the store without having to worry about being blown to smithereens. As the saying goes, drastic times call for drastic measures.
Yet much of the public opposition to allowing refugees who crossed illegally into Canada to begin the path to legitimacy on their search for a better life is based on some imagined notion whereby migrants happily skip and dance their way across the border with impunity.
But our country has laws, and there's no yellow brick road around that fact. Asylum-seekers do get arrested and screened, said Dan Brien, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, in a recent Globe and Mail article.
"If they are found to be inadmissible without a valid claim, deportation procedures are begun," he said, adding those who cannot be identified, are a flight risk or pose a public danger can be detained.
So it's not as though there's some giant, revolving door that allows any random person to just waltz right into Canada without scrutiny.
Perhaps there's a certain irony in that while about half of Canadians want to give asylum-seekers the boot based largely on prejudiced fears, the UN recently recognized on Tuesday, March 21 the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Racial discrimination succeeds only at needlessly driving division and making scapegoats out of the most vulnerable people.
Canadians often like to boast about how compassionate and welcoming our country is, but when it comes to people fleeing brutal war zones throughout the Middle East, many of us are apparently willing to make an exception.
— Simon Ducatel, Round Up editor
