Refugee claimants should be grateful

Re: “From Brazil to the Big O: Tales of migrants’ journey” (Montreal Gazette, Aug. 8)

The front-page photo caption sent my heart racing. Three Turkish refugee claimants complained they could no longer tolerate the living conditions of the temporary centre set up at the Olympic Stadium. So they took their suitcases and left.

You call these refugees? They should get on their knees and kiss the Canadian ground they stand on.

My parents and I were once refugees. To his dying day my dad declared that Canada was the best country in the world for taking us in after we had survived the Nazis, run from the Communists and escaped to Vienna. We hid during the day and ran at night over mountains, fields and rivers.

In Vienna, we were housed in a gymnasium, two to each narrow army cot, 180 people in total. This is how we lived for a year, but we were happy to be free.

Once in Canada, we rented a room where the three of us gratefully shared one bed for the next six months.

My parents, labouring in factories, didn’t complain about “living conditions” in Canada. We appreciated every little act of kindness.

Some of today’s migrants to Canada have greater expectations. Perhaps the Ritz has some vacancies — at taxpayers’ expense, of course? Penny Hassan, Montreal