REFUGEE POLICY
What Canada can do
My family and I arrived in Canada from the United Kingdom in 1971 seeking a better future and last year, after almost 36 years in uniform, I retired from the Canadian Armed Forces.
When my wife and I moved from Ankara, Turkey, to Victoria we purchased an older condominium and soon began much needed renovations. And, as it turned out, our electrician happened to be one of the 60,000 Vietnamese refugees or “boat people” that Canada took in between 1979 and 1980. For both of us, immigrant and refugee, Canada was and still is a land of opportunity.
When you are overseas, especially in conflict zones, one understands quickly why countries such as ours are beacons of light for millions of people, including refugees. Life in a refugee camp in Afghanistan, Jordan or elsewhere is not pleasant. Even in the well-run Turkish refugee camps, hope eventually fades. And that’s why ordinary people are willing to take extraordinary risks. And why the lifeless body of Alan Kurdi came to wash ashore on a beach.
As for me, I have little empathy for the European Union, which now finds itself under semi-siege with some 300,000 refugees and migrants having crossed the Mediterranean so far this year. Four years ago, and using UN Security Council Resolution 1973 as a cover, many of these European countries as well as Canada, toppled the Libyan government. When the Syrian uprising began in early 2011, the British, French and Canadian governments, among others, also moved quickly to isolate and weaken the Assad regime. But there was little consideration as to what this could mean for the Syrian people. Well, now we know. By the end of 2014, Syria had become the world’s top source of refugees, overtaking Afghanistan. On average
Like the European Union we also have a moral responsibility to take in more Syrian refugees.
one out of every four refugees today is Syrian.
So what about Alan Kurdi? Should we care? Some Canadians, from the safety of anonymous newspaper comment sections, would say no, many refugees are Muslim so not wanted and they will take our jobs or it’s simply not our issue. Of course, those commenters conveniently ignore the fact that when your government sends CF-18 fighter jets to supposedly “liberate” the Libyan people and actively works to undermine the Syrian government, it is your issue.
I would argue, therefore, that like the European Union we also have a moral responsibility to take in more Syrian refugees. In part, this is due to our own Middle Eastern meddling but more so because according to Immigration Canada our country “is recognized around the world for its leadership in offering a safe haven to people who need protection.”
So far, the government plans on accepting 11,300 Syrians along with 10,000 more over a three-year period. Considering that 2,300 have already arrived, that’s another 6,000 per year between now and likely 2018. It’s not that many when you think of the 60,000 Vietnamese that arrived in just one year. Nor should we forget that some 7,000 Kosovar refugees were brought to Canada in 1999 and that 5,000 of them classified as “highly traumatized individuals” were airlifted here in just 23 days.
Given elections in Canada are now on the horizon, it’s easy for everyone to start pointing fingers. But now is not the time for fingerpointing and to date Canada has generously provided over $700 million in humanitarian related aid for Syria’s refugees. But what should we do now? Well, if Canada could take in 60,000 Vietnamese refugees 35 years ago surely we can bring in 60,000 Syrians now.
And, if they do come, the simple fact is that the vast majority will not become burdens. They will, taking my cue from Icelandic author Bryndis Bjorgvinsdottir, become our future friends and co-workers, authors and architects, builders and baristas, the classmates of our children, the electrician with a story to tell.