Canada must take more Syrian refugees
The heartbreaking picture of three-yearold Alan Kurdi lying lifeless on a Turkish beach has unleashed an outpouring of grief and anger, perhaps marking a tipping point in the refugee crisis that has been unfolding in Syria for five years. Calls that Western governments do something have become deafening and can no longer be ignored.
But it has also allowed emotion to overcome reason, and for assumptions to trump facts. Canada and its government are not responsible for this little boy’s death, even his mourning aunt absolved Canada of blame. Misinformation spread by social media unfairly vilified Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander. Neither has anything to apologize for.
However, Canada’s immigration system, designed to ensure those coming to settle have the qualifications to succeed, is not well suited to act quickly in a crisis. There is too much red tape and too many bottlenecks, some of which are the fault of transit countries and the United Nations.
In extraordinary times, these can be overcome, as they were in 1979 when Conservative Prime Minister Joe Clark and Immigration Minister Ron Atkey admitted and settled 60,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, their efforts buoyed by grassroots organizations such as Operation Lifeline. Canada also responded quickly and decisively in the Kosovo conflict, airlifting 5,000 refugees to safety in 1992; and in Uganda, rescuing 5,000 from the brutal regime of Idi Amin in 1972.
Canada could, once again, take a leading role in saving lives by opening the gates a little wider. Since January 2014, Canada has resettled only 2,374 Syrian refugees. Among them, 72 government-sponsored refugees have come to B.C. in the last two years.
Despite criticism of Harper, he’s got it mostly right. He acknowledges that taking 10,000 or 25,000 or even 100,000 refugees will not solve the root problem — a ruthless insurgency by the Islamic State and an assault by forces aligned with Syrian president Bashar Assad. Canada’s military involvement and its contribution of humanitarian aid are as important to resolving the crisis as admitting more refugees. It’s worth noting that the wealthiest Arab nations: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman have offered no settlement places for Syrian refugees.
That being said, Canada’s three-year commitment made in January to take 10,000 Syrian refugees, augmented by Harper this week by another 10,000, is far below what the country is capable of.
Scott Gilmore in Maclean’s magazine this week calculated that Canada could take in 200,000 refugees at a cost of $2.2 billion. If the government offered to match public donations, it could cut that by half, to $1.1 billion. By way of comparison, the Conservative election campaign promise of a home-renovation tax credit is estimated to cost $1.5 billion.
We’re betting Canadians would be willing to give up the home renovation tax credit to save 200,000 lives.