Some refugees are more vulnerable

Justin Trudeau accuses Stephen Harper of being selective with refugee claimants to effect political gains. Well, Trudeau’s ill thought-out stance has just cost him my vote.

On Friday, Trudeau said: “To know that somewhere in the PMO, staffers were poring through their personal files to try and see which families would be suitable for a photoop for the PM’s re-election campaign, that’s disgusting.”

I was planning on supporting Trudeau, but this latest comment has convinced me that in world affairs, Trudeau is either naive or pandering to a segment of the population to garner votes.

In every conflict involving refugees, there are certain minority groups (by virtue of ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or any other characteristic) who are far and away the most vulnerable.

While many refugees are fleeing for economic reasons, these people are the most at risk of being tortured or killed.

I don’t think that any compassionate person would deny it is our duty to prioritize refugees most likely to be tortured and killed, to be raped and sold into slavery. By denying the realities of the imbalance in the dangers faced by different groups, Trudeau could be compromising their fundamental right to life.

Should Hutu and Tutsi refugee claims have been treated equally during the Rwandan conflict? Should Serbian and Bosnian refugees have been treated the same in 1992? Of course not. In this conflict, it is Christians (though I would include homosexuals as well) who have disproportionately been tortured, beheaded, sold into slavery, and who garner no support from any faction. If Trudeau cannot see that, he is probably too blinded by political ambition.

Richard Hartwell, Longueuil