Seeking a better life

Re: Time to curb immigration, March 21.

I was an immigration officer for 35 years and was based in Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and Santiago, Chile. As an enforcement officer, and later a special inquiry officer, I arrested illegals and often ordered the deportation of convicted criminals and others who were illegals or did not meet our selection criteria.

Apart from the criminals, the vast majority of them were nice human beings, merely seeking a better life for themselves and their families. Those admitted as “selected” migrants were valuable assets to our culture, economy and society in general. We were lucky to get them. In 1962 we discovered our brand new “long standing humanitarian tradition” and enacted an Immigration Act designed to reflect that “tradition.”

Today, our ability to effectively control access to Canadian territory has been eroded. The result has motivated many individuals, and groups, to get into Canada by questionable means, knowing it will take several years before the system determines their status. The latest backlog is one of many. The first few admissions of our defeat were resolved by “humanitarian reviews.” When that became embarrassing, we used different titles for the purpose of concealing the erosion of our sovereignty.

Perhaps letter-writer Helen Weldon would be surprised to learn that Canada Immigration was never interested in trying to determine Canada’s optimum population; and, to the best of my knowledge, remains uninterested in Canada’s demographic future. I wonder if the new “Office of Religious Freedom” has a definition to determine which faithbased ideologies will have their freedom defended; and, what impact that definition will have on our nation and, my grandchildren?

KINGSLEY BEATTIE,

Ottawa