Canada's balancing act with refugees
by Candice Malcolm
Critics of Prime Minister Stephen Harper often accuse him of using
the so-called "politics of fear and division," especially when it comes
to immigration and Canada's national security.
It is a favourite line of attack against the Conservative government.
But is Harper really fear-mongering to attract votes, or is he simply
being honest with Canadians about the threats we face?
During the recent foreign policy debate, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair
criticized the Harper government's refugee policy and took issue with
their handling of the MV Sun Sea, the boat that arrived on Canada's west
coast in 2010 carrying hundreds of Sri Lankan migrants. Mulcair was
appalled and chided Harper because one of his cabinet ministers had said
the boat was carrying terrorists. The problem, of course, is that the MV
Sun Sea was carrying terrorists.
Canada's courts eventually found that 11 of the self-proclaimed
refugees onboard were actually members of a Sri Lankan terrorist
organization known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Another two were discovered to be wanted war criminals. Despite
Mulcair's criticisms, the handling of the MV Sun Sea is actually an
immigration security success story.
Handling migrants
When the boat was spotted off the coast of Vancouver Island during
the summer of 2010, Harper ordered a navy ship to escort the rusty
freightliner to a nearby base for immigration checks and screening. Many
of the nearly 500 individuals onboard the Sun Sea were not carrying any
form of verification documents or identification paperwork. Canadian
immigration officials had a difficult time confirming names and ages,
let alone screening for possible terrorist affiliations. To make matters
more complicated, the Sri Lankan Government stated that the ship was a
smuggling operation led by a recently defeated rebel insurgency group,
the LTTE.
This group is a designated terrorist organization, thanks to its
ruthless campaign of violence that terrorized Sri Lanka during a civil
war that killed thousands of people.
Canada showed incredible compassion by accepting most asylum
claimants as legitimate refugees, while also remaining diligent in
protecting our national security and the integrity of our immigration
system.
It may have taken longer than the opposition would have liked, but it
demonstrated how Canada can maintain its generosity and also take
security concerns seriously.
The case of the MV Sun Sea is not the exception when it comes to
admitting refugees. It is common for war criminals and terrorists to
hide amongst migrants and refugees while fleeing a war zone.Take Dejan
Demirovic, who fled Serbia alongside refugees escaping war in Balkans.
Demirovic spent four years living in Ontario and applied for refugee
status in Canada. His case was rejected and he was deported to Serbia to
face trial for his involvement with a paramilitary organization and a
1999 massacre of Albanian women and children.
Balancing act
Canada also once welcomed Kiemtor Alidu, a leader of Ghana's
"People's Defence Committee" from 1982 to 1985. Alidu admitted
responsibility for rounding up and killing more than 100 people. His bid
for refugee protection in Canada was rejected.
In 2014, the US Border Patrol arrested Jean Leonard Teganya, a wanted
war criminal from Rwanda who had arrived in Canada in 1999 claiming to
be a refugee. The Immigration and Refugee Board rejected his bid because
he was complicit in a massacre at a Rwandan hospital that left 200 dead.
These are just three of the hundreds of cases clogging up our court
systems and utilizing government resources. When allegations of war
crimes and terrorism are made against refugees and immigrants, their
cases go to hearings before Canada's immigration courts.According to the
latest report from the Canadian Boarder Services Agency, the deportation
program in Canada costs taxpayers upwards of $90 million per year. So
while critics like to accuse the Harper government of fear mongering
over security, Canadians should be grateful the government takes
security risks seriously. After all, it's better to screen out war
criminals and terrorists before they arrive, than to chase these
criminals through Canada's court system while taxpayers pick up the
bill.
- Toronto Sun
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