Perhaps Lady Liberty needs to move north of the border

President Donald OTTAWA — Trump’s harsh travel ban reflects a global pattern: All around the world, countries are slamming the doors shut.

One great exception: Canada. It may now be the finest example of the values of the Statue of Liberty.

This isn’t just because Canadian leaders are particularly enlightened, although there’s some of that. It’s mostly because the Canadian people themselves remain astonishingly hospitable, with many groups clamoring for more Syrian refugees.

“Thank you, Canada,” Omar al-Omar, a Syrian who was shot at age 15 as the war started, said to me at a center here where refugees are getting lessons in English and in Canadian habits, such as excruciating politeness. “I’m very happy. I feel welcome.”

President Barack Obama admitted 12,000 Syrian refugees, triggering a furor and a backlash. Meanwhile, Canada, with a far smaller population, has admitted 40,000 Syrians.

Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s immigration minister, told me that one of the criticisms he faces from ordinary Canadians is that he’s not bringing in enough Syrians.

“We want people to join the Canadian family,” he said, noting that the country is trying to figure out how to keep more foreign students from leaving after graduation.

Let’s be clear: Canada has xenophobes, too, and indeed, six people were just killed at a mosque in Quebec. Its people are not intrinsically nicer or more tolerant than Europeans or Americans.

Historically, Canada had a “white Canada” immigration policy steeped in racism and xenophobia. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, 96 percent of immigrants were from Europe, and even Pierre Trudeau, who as prime minister championed tolerance, started out his career as a racist who joined an anti-Semitic riot.

Yet over the last 50 years, Canada transformed itself — because of determined political leadership, partly by Trudeau, whose son is today prime minister and extols similar ideals. Almost one-fifth of Canadians are what people here describe as “visible minorities” — mostly ethnic Chinese or people with roots in Africa or South Asia — and Muslims constitute three times the percentage of Canadians as of Americans. By 2036, almost half of Canadians are expected to be immigrants or children of immigrants.

When I asked lily-white Canadians about their views on that, they looked puzzled and inquired, “And what’s the problem?”

As the rest of the world bangs the doors shut, Canadians celebrate their openness — and, polls show, now take more pride in multiculturalism than in hockey.

It helps that Canada wasn’t beset by illegal immigration, and that economic policies limited the hollowing out of the middle class. Canada also has a brilliant system of citizen sponsorship. Five or more people can form a group to sponsor a refugee family, and even though this often involves a commitment of thousands of dollars per sponsor, there is a waiting list for getting refugees.

I asked the foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, if the Trump travel ban would help Canada poach the best of the world’s scientists and entrepreneurs for itself. “That’s exactly right!” she responded. Then she made her pitch directly, through me.

“If you’re a really smart person and you want to immigrate to a great country that will welcome you, come to Canada!” she said.