PM must take a stand against cruel U.S. policy
Justin Trudeau rose in the Commons t this playing inhumane week politics to treatment accuse with New Donald of children Democrats Trump’s of warehoused Some 99 times in cages. out of 100, the prime minister would have been correct. One needs not search very hard before tripping over an outbreak of politics in the nation’s capital.
But in this case he was wrong. He was playing the politics, stalling for time and hoping against hope that the U.S. Congress moves quickly to restore some semblance of humanity to a nation that is having its international reputation badly tarnished.
The longer this despicable practice continues, the harder it will be for Trudeau to remain silent. The longer he remains silent, the more vulnerable he is to charges of complicity.
And the longer this continues, it will become all but impossible to explain — on a moral basis — why Canada still continues to view the United States as a safe country for asylum seekers and why this country has not suspended an agreement that formally deems the U.S. something it isn’t — namely, a harbour where human rights are respected.
Much has changed since the two governments signed the Safe Third Country Agreement in 2002. We are now living a historic period of migration and rootlessness.
We are also living in a time when a U.S. president is using innocent children as political hostages.
In 2002, both countries recognized the other as a nation that protects asylum-seekers and required those making a claim at recognized crossings to make it in the first country in which they arrived.
Specifically, the Canadian language states, “only countries that respect human rights and offer a high degree of protection to asylum seekers may be designated as safe third countries.
“To date, the United States is the only designated safe third country.’’
The agreement “requires” continual review of countries designated as safe third countries to ensure original conditions, including its human rights record, have not changed.
Yet, the Liberals have not moved to suspend an agreement that explicitly states “the United States meets a high standard with respect to the protection of human rights. It is an open democracy with independent courts, separation of powers and constitutional guarantees of essential human rights and fundamental freedoms.’’
This is clearly no longer the case. Pretending otherwise disrespects Canadians who can see and hear what is happening at the Mexican border.
Last November, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale directed the Canadian Border and Security Agency to “as much as humanly possible” keep children out of detention and “keep families together.”
Today, the Liberals are largely silent as the U.S. is engaged in the opposite, barbaric practice.
Trudeau may have compelling political reasons to stay out of this. He doesn’t need another flashpoint with Trump right now — not necessarily a sign of weakness, but one of political prudence.
His government is also vulnerable because of the spike in “irregular” crossings from asylum-seekers into this country and resources available have not kept pace with the number of crossings, even if it is making progress in slowing the number of such crossings.
Morally, his silence and his continued insistence that the U.S. is a safe harbour for new arrivals is a tough sell to an outraged electorate.
What would happen if the agreement was suspended?
“Would more people come to Canada?” asked Sean Rehaag, an expert on refugee law at Osgoode Hall Law School. “Nobody knows. Anyone who tells you they know is lying.’’
But he said the numbers would be manageable and resources would no longer have to be funnelled to dealing with irregular crossings in Quebec.
Canadian action would not help those families torn apart in southern Texas, but Canadian refusal to send asylumseekers back to the U.S. under the agreement could prevent hundreds more enduring the same fate, he said.
Most importantly, denunciation and suspension of the bilateral agreement would be an example of Trudeau staking the high ground Canadians expect of their government.
And suspension is just that. It’s a suspension, not an end to an agreement. And any change in asylum seekers in this country over a period of no more than months would be a drop in the global migration bucket.
The Trudeau Liberals rode a carefully cultivated image of empathy and compassion to electoral victory in 2015. They have to get to that hill again, because waiting for sanity to return to the U.S. is no longer a viable strategy.
In the meantime, enjoy World Refugee Day today.