Feds accused of ‘anti-Muslim’ bias
OTTAWA — The Conservative government is facing renewed questions about an alleged anti-Muslim bias following revelations it wants to cherry-pick which Syrian refugees will be accepted into Canada.
Sources say the government wants to prioritize religious minorities as a condition for resettling thousands more Syrian refugees in Canada over the next two years.
Sunni Muslims account for nearly three-quarters of all Syrians, according to the CIA Factbook, while other Muslim groups such as Shias, Alawis and Ismailis represent another 16 per cent of the population. Christians and a small number of Jews represent the remaining 10 per cent.
NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar accused the government of breaking from the international community, as well as Canada’s own tradition of accepting those most in need of protection, no matter their backgrounds.
“It’s unprecedented and going in a terrible direction,” said Liberal immigration critic John McCallum. “I find this shocking. To impose a religious filter is just not right.”
Costas Menegakis, who serves as parliamentary secretary to Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, defended the Conservative government’s focus on religious minorities in the House of Commons Friday.
“We have seen countless examples in recent years of people being persecuted for their religious beliefs,” he said. “We will prioritize persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, those at demonstrated risk, and we will make no apologies for that.”
Menegakis added any suggestion the government was interested in helping only one group of people was “categorically false.”
Syrian Canadian Council spokesman Faisal Alazem said religious minorities make up an important and vibrant part of Syria’s culture, “and no one is suggesting that non-Muslims should not be protected.”
“But you treat people based on the need and on the vulnerability,” he said. “If the government is looking at the Middle East or Syria from only a sectarian angle, that would be a huge disappointment.”
The head of one of Canada’s largest Muslim organizations, the National Council of Canadian Muslims, issued a statement Friday saying he was “deeply troubled” and called on the government to come clean on its intentions.
“It is inconceivable that our government would suggest implementing a policy that creates a two-tier refugee system in which vulnerable people are assessed based on their personal religious beliefs rather than on their needs,” NCCM executive director Ihsaan Gardee said.
The United Nations has resisted Canada’s request, as its policy is to help the most vulnerable, no matter their religious background. This includes families led by women, torture victims and those with serious medical conditions.
The disagreement is reportedly why Canada remained silent at a major UN conference in Geneva this week as other countries stepped up to help the world body resettle 100,000 Syrian refugees by 2017.
Canada previously agreed to accept 1,300 Syrians by the end of this year, though fewer than 500 had arrived by mid-November.
About three million Syrians have fled into neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq since fierce fighting between Syrian government and rebel forces erupted in 2011. The situation has worsened with the rise of Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and other extremist groups.
The UN High Commission for Refugees’ representative in Canada, Furio de Angelis, was not available for comment Friday.
The desire to accept only religious minorities has sparked fresh concerns the Conservative government’s refusal to do more in response to the Syrian refugee crisis is because the majority of those affected are Muslim.
“Obviously that continues to linger as the concern here,” said Amnesty International Canada secretarygeneral Alex Neve. “That this in some way, shape or form is about the fact that the majority of refugees fleeing Syria are Muslim.”