Canada's Broken Asylum System
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has performed so outstandingly well in his portfolio, in so many instances, on so many fronts, it's somewhat puzzling to see the fixation on refugee claimants. Perhaps when it comes to Sri Lankans attempting to enter Canada through the auspices of smugglers' swift-entry programs, it's understandable.
On the other hand, Tamils still aren't living a wonderfully entitled life in Sri Lanka.
But the new omnibus bill meant to deport bogus refugee claimants, quicker, clamp down on human smugglers and require visa holders of a particular variety to turn over biometric data, seems to have some built-in biases one can only wonder at.
Those who appear to be largely targeted are 'travelers', Roma, an ethnic group that has historically been oppressed and remains so to this day, in Europe. Nazi Germany thought they were a bloody nuisance too, and they ended up in concentration camps ripe for extermination.
Roma have an unsavoury reputation for rotating to the shady side of the street. They're also well known as welfare seekers, rather than industrious workers. And likely the reputation they have is based on some semblance of reality. But the simple facts are that as a group they are set aside, shunned by the majority societies in which they live in Europe, and not given access to full equality.
They are hugely unemployed because no one wants to employ them. Roma children are treated differently than the majority in schools. The Roma live squalid, miserable lives without hope for the future. In civilized European countries like the Czech Republic, Hungary, France and elsewhere, they are the institutionalized underclass, the poverty-stricken.
Under Bill C-31, claims for refugee status from "safe" democratic countries would be processed swiftly under the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, which sounds fine and dandy but which can be interpreted as giving the old heave-ho to Roma applicants. Canada claims that 4,400 refugee claims from Roma living in Hungary is a burden.
How many immigrants does Canada invite into the country on a yearly basis to become landed immigrants and eventually citizens? Well, a quarter-million. If 250,000 immigrants is considered necessary and normal, why does fewer than 5,000 refugee claimants from people desperate to escape poverty and oppression seem too much?
Beg pardon?
On the other hand, Tamils still aren't living a wonderfully entitled life in Sri Lanka.
But the new omnibus bill meant to deport bogus refugee claimants, quicker, clamp down on human smugglers and require visa holders of a particular variety to turn over biometric data, seems to have some built-in biases one can only wonder at.
Those who appear to be largely targeted are 'travelers', Roma, an ethnic group that has historically been oppressed and remains so to this day, in Europe. Nazi Germany thought they were a bloody nuisance too, and they ended up in concentration camps ripe for extermination.
Roma have an unsavoury reputation for rotating to the shady side of the street. They're also well known as welfare seekers, rather than industrious workers. And likely the reputation they have is based on some semblance of reality. But the simple facts are that as a group they are set aside, shunned by the majority societies in which they live in Europe, and not given access to full equality.
They are hugely unemployed because no one wants to employ them. Roma children are treated differently than the majority in schools. The Roma live squalid, miserable lives without hope for the future. In civilized European countries like the Czech Republic, Hungary, France and elsewhere, they are the institutionalized underclass, the poverty-stricken.
Under Bill C-31, claims for refugee status from "safe" democratic countries would be processed swiftly under the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, which sounds fine and dandy but which can be interpreted as giving the old heave-ho to Roma applicants. Canada claims that 4,400 refugee claims from Roma living in Hungary is a burden.
How many immigrants does Canada invite into the country on a yearly basis to become landed immigrants and eventually citizens? Well, a quarter-million. If 250,000 immigrants is considered necessary and normal, why does fewer than 5,000 refugee claimants from people desperate to escape poverty and oppression seem too much?
Beg pardon?
Labels: Government of Canada, Immigration, Politics of Convenience
posted by Pieface | 7:08 PM
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