Trudeau, Trump and the refugees
In a world with more than its share of dark corners and sinister voices, every human has a choice. We can surrender to fears, both real and imagined, or we can stand up to them.
In a world awash with suffering multitudes fleeing war, tyranny and impoverishment, every one of us has another choice. We can turn away, build walls and do nothing, or we can open our doors, hold out a hand and help.
Or, to put it in even starker terms, we can choose to be guided by Justin Trudeau or Donald Trump.
At the United Nations in New York City last week, Prime Minister Trudeau made a compelling case for the international community staying calm and carrying on in the mission of helping more of the world’s 60 million refugees.
Since last November, Canada has resettled more than 31,000 refugees seeking sanctuary from the Syrian civil war, Trudeau told the UN. By the end of this year, more than 44,000 Syrians will have been welcomed to Canada.
On the same day in the same country, Trump, the billionaire Republican presidential candidate, compared migration from Muslim countries like Syria to a tumour.
Compassion or condemnation. Having the courage to suspend suspicion, embrace a shared humanity and save a life, or bow to the basest prejudice and paranoia and reject all who seem different because of how they dress or pray. These are the choices confronting not just Canadians and Americans but the world.
As Trudeau pleads for more open borders, so many others want them closed.
In France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Hungary, politicians who advocate stopping or slowing the influx of migrants and refugees are riding waves of popular support. Even in Canada, Kellie Leitch, a candidate to become the federal Conservatives’ next leader, wants to screen all immigrants for “anti-Canadian values.” While it’s unclear how this troubling proposal could be implemented, it has boosted Leitch’s popularity.
So Canadians can’t be smug. It’s true we’ve accepted more Syrian refugees than other, more populous, nations like the U.K. and the U.S. But Europe is buckling under migration and extremist pressures unknown in Canada. And the U.S., which recently marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist atrocities, just last week saw an Afghan-born American citizen facing terrorism charges after bombings in New York and New Jersey.
None of this is simple. Help a stranger and you take a risk. Yet, while admitting such complexities, we can’t help but conclude that hope is better than fear and that Trudeau beats Trump as a guide to the future we would choose.