hoax and racist emails about immigrants

I did forward the story about the bogus email relating to immigrants. I'm an immigrant and many of my friends think that I enjoy reading all this crap about people like me. They have no clue how racist they sound or act. When I comment on it, they say that I'm a different immigrant. I'm not and I get offended by those stupid emails. The interesting part of it is that those emails only shows up when "a non white" immigrant story breaks the news. The online jokes are all about muslims or non white people. This is pure racism. Why so many people fight to protect and preserve some animals from extinction but when come to protect humans from extiction(from countries that are killing their own people), the same people doesn't seems very concern at all.Just send them back! it was the headline in a newspaper the other day about the Sri Lanka immigrants. Why people are so afraid? Afraid of what? More people comes here, more people works and pay more taxes. You don't see many immigrants on welfare, but a lot of canadian are living in welfare. I'm afraid to say but north america is getting more and more racist than ever before. How sad!

Snopes

Go to Snopes.com and type "apply to be a refugee" into the search engine. This campaign is no accident.

Nothing against refuges

I remember travelling through the Cariboo back in the eighties when we had another boat load of refuges being housed in a prison in Prince George. The news item said the government had spent $20 million to jail these people. The next news item was that a school in the Cariboo was being closed cause the government didn't have $170 thousand or so to keep it open. Why are we jailing these people or detaining them at great expense is my beef. But then there is money for the system by doing just that but not money for the health care and education for all. Lawyers getting rich is what it's about.

Sadly, Many Canadians are Gullible

Bill, you wrote: "And it says a lot about how easily manipulated Canadians are about refugees, "
Well, we are easily manipulated by a lot of things and devices such as email and Twitter make it so much easier.
Another example, the HST. In the process of interviewing people about the tax, the level of ignorance is formidable.

All people are important

After reading your article Bill I think we as readers must be reminded of a couple of things, first Canada is a place of people from all over the world. Many people envy our way of life and want to become part of that "life" or "dream". Saying that though when did all the good things about refugees or immigration in general, when did we all suddenly become "un-neighbourly'? or even down right hostile? I can tell you that a refugee claiming any kind of social benefit(S) does not get more than a retired senior, that is simply just not true. People's perceptions of how these programs are not at all clear. I don't think I can slight anyone wanting a better life anywhere in the world, our problem is that it's our system and laws that need some overhaul and review. If we as a society we must demand that our so called leaders make some changes. If we say and or do nothing then nothing is pretty much all we will ever get no matter who runs the country.-Just a thought. Average refugee gets about $610.00 per month until they can get a work permit, which can take up to a year to get, could we not change this and speed this waiting time up to allow people to train and seek employment.

Most of us are here because

Most of us are here because way back when our family came here from somewhere else. Suddenly( or not so suddenly) large groups like Displaced persons from Europe were very suspect). The common expression was DP's. They were going to ruin the country but it seems they all end up as very good Canadians. Thousands of US citizens arrived because they were against the war and the draft. They seem to have settled in well. The latest complains , due to availability of media, and electronic messaging makes it easy to spread misinformation. Doesn't help much when the Feds call them possible terrorists. Yes they paid money to get here, by ships. Yes some of the groups herding them this way are people movers, which might be part of the reason to complain, but had they arrived by aircraft, which happens a lot, would that make them better people? We have a system to sort out the good from the bad so let the experts sort it out. As the records show, 90 percent of the folks showing up are accepted as good honest people no matter what color their skin and no matter what place they came from. Hello soon to be new Canadians.

its economic refugees

People are also discounting the figures the refugees paid to get here, saying it is nearly impossible for them to earn that much money where they come from.
Perhaps they forget the previous boatloads where many were obligated to work here in sweatshops for ages to pay back the money they signed up for?
So how exactly do they contribute to Canada's economy? Saving money for wages benefit the sweatshop owners who no doubt is connected to the criminals who initiated this whole affair?
And please stop calling them immigrants, they are refugees and most likely fake ones at that!

Not hard to see why the Right stays in power

When I first received that email from a friend I hadn't seen for years I checked it out and found that it had originated in a letter to the editor to the Toronto Star and then been further embellished by someone else afterwards. At least that was the story according to the Toronto Star ombudsman.

Unfortunately even after showing the ombudsman's words to my friend he was still inclined to believe the email.

About 2 years later my mum sent it to me saying she had received the thing from a friend and wanted me to tell her if that was true or not. Again, in spite of showing the thread of how the letter came to be and stats from government websites her friends still believed it was true.

Since people are so willing to believe what they read in email I think I'll invent a few myself and send them out.

Now where's that website claiming Queen Elizabeth is a giant lizard...

refugees more than seniors

As a 68 yr old stay at home Mom of three kids, one autistic, I wasn't able to contribute much to pension funds and so, my OAS and CPP comes to about $800 monthly. Love the idea of living on a cruise liner so perhaps the experts here can post how this is done.

Maybe our Government should

Maybe our Government should classify the Sri Lankin Government as a terrorist organization because they're terrorising they own people. And for the spreading mis-information about, we should look at our own mass-media for this because its obvious that they're not checking the information what certain officials are saying and just repeating what they have been told.

I get these

I get these Forward-this-to-every-Canadian-you-know rants all the time. They just make me sad. Now I will return this excellent piece back as a response. Thanks, Bill.

Not so 'needlessly afraid,' Bill

Surely the true acid test of our refugee/immigration laws is the cost of:

- housing, feeding and providing medical care and even legal rep'n to them while they await a hearing;

- the wide assortment of immigration programs and services available exclusively to them and which receive public funding;

- and finally, the various welfare and disability supports that are somehow equally available to them if they succeed in their claims.

Until you trawl actual stats from outfits such as the B.C.Coaltion of People with Disabilities to see how many of their clients are refugees and how many of their claims succeed, you've told me nothing. Nothing at all.

A rule to live by.

It is quite easy really. Never, repeat never, waste cyberspace by forwarding any email the sender asks you to pass on. They are all junk even if they are intended to make you feel warm and fuzzy for a second and worst of all most of the claims made are false and intended to manipulate you..

Welcome...

First, I accept the right of Canadians to limit their immigration levels. Then once "accepted", they become part of social fabric of this country, for good or ill.

That said, in these economic times, we likely need to be limiting our population growth, same as we do off-shore outsourcing of financial and other services.

The Tamils however, to my mind, come in quite a different category as "war refugees" in desperate need. They are at least, nay more legitimate than the Vietnemese refugees of relatively recent history. (Many of whom actually betrayed their countries by serving the foreign invader.) Only these folks actually fought for their homeland and lost to the imperial ambitions of India.

I say, we should embrace these Tamils, and except in the case of clear criminals , welcome them to our shores. At least we know they will actually defend their homeland, not betray it, like some already amongst us who are really just Wannabe Amerikans.

60 + million Tamils in India

And they have to come here as refugees?

An interesting read. As always with Wiki take it with a grain of salt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_people

The Wacky World of Email Fwds.

Usually sent to you by grandparent who believes everything they read.

The reason for hating on the Tamils is easy. They're on the government sanctioned list of people we are supposed to despise, so even the media can take a crap on them without fear or guilt.

Legitimate reasons against immigration

What bothers me quite a lot is that when I express an opinion against immigration I am immediately labeled a 'racist' or a 'bigot'. But I shall try again.

First of all, I believe that all the attention that this "boat of Tamils" is garnishing is a sign to everybody that our government needs to reevaluate Canadian immigration policy. One way or another, people are not happy. with how it currently stands.

Secondly, we cannot help every single person in need in this world by allowing them to live in Canada. These Tamils broke the law to get here, why should we make a special case for them?

Third, if we are to help me people in need in this world, we must start by making Canada stronger and more cohesive in our political vision and our love for each other. This is not accomplished by allowing segregated cultural communities to grow within our cities which is caused by large scale immigration.

Believe me if you will that I have no problem with allowing people to immigrate to Canada. I believe that new insights and ideas which come with new people are what make real progression happen. But how can I garner these new ideas from people if I can't even communicate with them?

My family has resided in Vancouver for over 150 years. Over the last 20 years of my life I have seen parts of the lower mainland become essentially closed to me. Not because I am legally not allowed there, but because all the store fronts and signage are in a language that I do not understand. This tells me that I am uninvited. Anger has been my natural reaction. Not because I hate any specific culture, but because I feel affronted in an unequal partnership. I care not for the economic benefits of having more shops and taxes, I care about the exchange of ideas.

Immigrants come to Canada because they idealize the "Canadian Dream"; that dream is a result of Canadian culture, which is a result of immigrants exchanging their ideas. Large scale immigration creates segregated communities where different languages are spoken, and the exchange of ideas is broken. If we allow Canadian culture to erode by an unchecked flow of immigration, that dream becomes non-existent.

These are my feelings, and I believe they are legitimate. I believe many other people feel likewise or similar.

My suggestion: make proficiency in English (or french) mandatory for legal immigration to Canada from here forward. Make it illegal for any business signs to be in any other language but English (like the laws in Montreal).

For multiculturalism to be successful, the "Canadian Dream" must be preserved, and that needs communication. We can't communicate if we don't speak the same language.

PS: I do concede that refugees do deserve special consideration in the language regulation.

Kinds Regards

alive

So how does some shmuck working at McD's for 15 hours a week at $8/hr "contribute to Canada's economy"?

my shmuck is worse off than your shmuck

Rick, I think we are on the same page here, the main difference between a sweatshop inmate and a McD employee is that the latter has the option of looking elsewhere for a better job, while the sweatshop refugee is obligated for years to come and likely would be hunted down should he/she try to escape, and yes some did make a beeline for the border for that very reason.
I feel it is criminal to expect anyone to work for those low wages, but then again we have criminals running the country and province.

A Couple of Points

in rebuttal - Snert says there are more than 60 million Tamils in India. Irrelevant info, whether true or not. The Tamil refugees came from Sri Lanka, formerly known as the island nation of Ceylon, and are continuing victims of political reprisal even though their revolution against the government ended a while ago. India maintains a blockade against the Sri Lankans, including the Tamil refugees.

Alive says refugees do not contribute to Canada's economy. Well, they still eat, wear clothes, pay rent, buy furniture. "Economy" is all about the transfer of money, not just the source of money. Their money for passage here may be taken out of the country by the smugglers, but does Alive check every purchase he makes to ensure it is a real "Product of Canada" and not something made in China and "packaged in Canada.?"

FromTheMasses is neither a bigot nor a racist, but does show signs of extreme shortsightedness. It takes several generations of immigrants to acclimatize a family to the national norms which he has attained. Canada is not a "melting pot" into which newcomers are tossed and expected to be homogenized, but we are a vertical mosaic in which each new piece is allowed to remain the same (which is why we are a bilingual country) and to act as a foundation upon which new constructions form. If we expect newcomers to adapt to our ways eventually surely we must learn to accept their differences now, even when we don't know what the signs advertise.

alive

Aye!

Sensational Journalism

Just like junk e-mails, snips from politicians can be shaped into sensationalism too.

Bill knows the facts but hides them and says minister Toews should check facts. The government was watching this ship for months and following up on information like this:

"A more forthcoming source has been the Malay Mail newspaper, which reported this week that the commander of the Sun Sea is a man known as Capt. Vinod, who studied at the Malaysian Maritime Academy in Malacca during its early days.

While in Malaysia, Vinod stayed in close contact with local financiers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), or Tamil Tigers, Singapore-based terrorism expert Prof. Rohan Gunaratna told the newspaper.

He said Vinod had from the 1990s to 2009 worked with another Tamil Tiger cadre, Capt. Kamalraj Kandasamy, alias Capt. Kamal, to ship several tons of arms, ammunition and explosives from North Korea to Sri Lanka for the outlawed group to wage and sustain its terrorist campaign.

Gunaratna told the paper that Kamal skippered the first Tamil refugee ship, Ocean Lady, which arrived in Canada last October. ...
The high commissioner of Sri Lanka said the ship is a human-smuggling operation linked to the Tamil Tigers, and that the captain of the ship, a man named “Vinod,” is a known member of the terrorist group."

And you point R/man is?

So the captain might be a crook, how does that refute anything Bill has written? Nice red herring though.

He wrote this

"Perhaps federal Conservative Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is one of those duped by the email. That might explain why he is encouraging anti-refugee sentiments by saying the Tamils on the MV Sun Sea included "suspected human smugglers and terrorists" without offering any proof."

Toews was not encouraging any sentiments and Bill knew that. Toews was simply reporting and informing Canadians about some of the information that the government had obtained after watching the ship for literally months. Any proof could not be possible until after an investigation and to suggest otherwise would prejudice any proceedings. Duh!

Bill's piece is in exactly the same category as the spoof emails he's talking about.

What has Canada done? It has allowed the people to land and it has housed them, provided them with health-care and nourishment and is allowing them due process with the possibility, probability, that they may stay in the country, with financial support immediately any landed status is granted. What more could Canada do?

Thanks Des

Said everything I wanted to say, and in fewer words too.

Hmmm?

The suggestion that Toews words are not encouraging anti-refugee sentiment is absurd.
Duh!
The point is, as Tieleman makes clear, that you don't make such suggestions WITHOUT proof...

Toews has made the statements and the fact he has voiced such sentiments, like much of the rest of his abysmal record as a public servant, is clear proof that he's unworthy of being a minister of the crown.

However, given the character of his mates in Pee Wee's Augean stables, he's far from the only member of that particular club who can be similarly charged. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any likely Heracles in the wings who might come along and clean up the dung that Harper has thickly spread over the once decent reputation of this country.

Count me in on the "Thanks Des" sentiment

However, I want to follow up with a point related to what FromTheMasses wrote:

"My family has resided in Vancouver for over 150 years. Over the last 20 years of my life I have seen parts of the lower mainland become essentially closed to me. Not because I am legally not allowed there, but because all the store fronts and signage are in a language that I do not understand. This tells me that I am uninvited. Anger has been my natural reaction. Not because I hate any specific culture, but because I feel affronted in an unequal partnership..."

My point: I wonder if any long-term locals 150 years ago had the same feelings about your family immigrating to Vancouver.

I always find it ironic that we feel entitled to particular pieces of geography that we inhabit. I love walking through the ethnic neighbourhoods of Vancouver, and even when I can't read the signs I have never felt a place was closed to me. Perhaps you're the one doing the closing to yourself.

You are Playing Politics with the Refugees

Check the dictionary when you calm down. When you have what you call proof, you no longer have to make any suggestions. Until that point the least you can do as a public servant is to share some information with your citizenry, since it became public knowledge at the same time that the High Commissioner or Sri Lanka in Canada had made comments. Which is, of course, exactly what Minister Toews did. Canada has good relations with Sri Lanka and there was no basis in doubting or condemning the comments made by the High Commissioner. Indeed, Sri Lanka has good relations with all of the world, including the EU, Russia, China, the USA and India. If you have information that their government is disseminating false information speak up.

Imagine

...if it came out later, after investigations, that there were indeed suspected known smugglers and convicted terrorists on board that ship and the Minister had been told that by his intelligence services and by the Sri Lankan representatives but the Minister had not mentioned it to the press.

You, the complainer, would be screaming to know, "what did the Minister know and when did he know it and why didn't he inform Canadians?"

It's all politics all the time. Oppose to oppose and oppose everything. Spin everything in a negative way. Sunshine: Drought! Harper's inaction on the Climate file. Rain: Floods! Harper's inaction on the climate file. It's very much like writing comedy.

Des

Sorry, but you are the one with extreme short sightedness. Your "vertical mosaic" will cause nothing but trouble down the road. What you might call a vibrant immigrant community is only a few short steps away from becoming a ghetto if it's residents don't take steps to fully integrate.

Mosaics are fine for art work but unless there is a plan they should not be used for as a symbol for the desired objective of a country and there is no plan, just a hodge podge.

we can't afford more people now

Des: People who work for minimum wages or less in the case of some refugees are in fact a liability for the country.
It costs us more to have them here than they contribute.

One solution would be to raise the minimum wage and enforce that rule, but that is dreaming.

The other choice is to restrict how many new people we allow to enter in those categories.

There are endless numbers of people who would like to come here and share what we have, and if we let them in we all will experience much lower standards of living, is that your aim?

Lanuage standards

What are the downsides to enforcing a mandatory English or French language proficiency for immigrants? What are the downsides to making it mandatory that all public signs are in one of those two languages?

FromTheMasses

The big downside would be that it restricts participation in the public process only to those who speak english or french.

Years ago I put forward the suggestion that we level the playing field by adopting one of the First Nations languages such as Cree as the national language of Canada in all 10 provinces.

In a stroke it would bring Quebec closer and block out American culture.

Phishing!

Most of the emails of this type are used as a means of gathering email addresses by shady characters by preying on naive people and they will use anything they think may appeal to a mass audience!

Huh? @realisticman

The point is, this pseudo religious SOB is a minister of the crown - paid to do a job impartially and well.

Toews whole pathetic career has been a long series of inserting his own religious and 'moral' beliefs into debates and issues where they have no business being involved.

That's not his job. He serves the people of Canada and is meant to uphold the law - not engage in political gamesmanship, innuendo and unproven allegations.

This is just another specific and clear incident of Harper and his gang of fundamentalist idiots trying to turn the country into a theocracy...what's truly surprising is the tendency of otherwise sane individuals to turn the other way and ignore what (had another bunch of political thugs done it) would have had you lighting YOUR hair on fire.

Very Interesting R/man!

So a boat load of Sri Lankans Tamils tries to get into Canada. They get on a boat and arrive an claime refugee status. They want to get away from the Sri Lankan government which they say is oppressive. A Sri Lankan government representative tells the Canadian Minister that they are all terrorists. What do we expect the Sri Lankan representative to say(?) that those claiming refugee status are all honest in their description of the country they are fleeing? But Vic Toews believes the representative.

snert wrote:

"Mosaics are fine for art work but unless there is a plan they should not be used for as a symbol for the desired objective of a country and there is no plan, just a hodge podge."

And yet Nature is strengthened ....and survives...and evolves through diversity.

Excellent post above, Des.

lynn...

There is nothing in nature that doesn't synthesize with it's surroundings, Darwin explains that fairly well. So by allowing people to immigrate en-mass to Canada, while not expecting them to change their lifestyle, language or culture as - Des suggests with his mosaic analogy - is essentially against nature.

Meeting place

"There is nothing in nature that doesn't synthesize with it's surroundings,"

Yes, but that synthesis mostly occurs under a process of gradual adaptive evolution.

Sometimes, there are overnight cataclysmic events but more often it is a gradual process of adaptation.

Of one thing to another.

From the masses

Here is an "adjunct" to Darwin's theory that might interest you:
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/08/artificial-ape-man-how-technology-created-humans.html
Essentially, when other cultures immigrate to Canada, we natives change as well (unless we WANT to maintain our intolerance).

I Went Back

and re-read my post. I guess I wasn't clear about immigrants (refugees) adapting to Canadian standards - eventually, while maintaining whatever parts of their identities help them retain their origins. The mosaic of life automatically changes and reflects the newly acquired information in the "evolution" of that life. That process should neither exclude the newcomers who are desperate to hold on to familiar habits nor the ones who want to meld as quickly as possible. The melting pot version of immigration gives only the illusion of amalgamation.

Alive - Does your solution to the problem of spending more on people (immigrants mainly, I gather) than they produce apply in quarterly instalments, or as an average computed over time, like 25 yrs, 50 yrs, 76 yrs? What about those unfortunate enough to suffer a non-life threatening accident which leaves someone unemployable for many years? I also take it that you wholeheartedly support the prison farms that Harper is closing?

s'cuse me:

Des, do you always answer a question with one of more questions of your own?
You re-read your own post, how about re-reading mine and try to grasp what I am saying?
However you want to calculate it, this country has no need for more citizens at this time, and particularily not those who only will cost us money.

Your own red herring questions are so far of the mark that you can provide your own answers, which you seem to do quite well.

I Went Back, Alive,

and re-read your post. I think you you said that the people, including immigrants or refugees, who work for minimum wage or less, are a drag on our society and we cannot afford to keep them. You offer two solutions, raise minimum wage (which you reject) or don't allow them in. Correct?

But refugees and immigrants are not a major part of the working force to begin with. They also do work which many "natural" Canadians won't do, anyway. And given time, most of them rise well above the mainstream in contributing to the economy, so financially supporting them in the beginning pays off very well in the long run. Don't you agree?

I guess I was pointing out that not each and every one of us contributes to the Wealth of the country all of the time. Today's pauper may be tomorrow's millionaire. And vice versa. Closing the immigrants out is the same as closing ourselves in.

And finally, asking a question seems to me to be more polite than just making a snide comment as so many posters tend to do. Don't you think that a question leaves the door slightly ajar for more discussion?

This is not the fifties Des

Des:
Yes immigrants and refugees do work at jobs that "we" do not like to do, agreed!
Why? because those jobs are not paid well enough to motivate people to go there.
Just like a strike can force employers to up the ante, so would scarcity of workers change the marketplace and make those important jobs worthwhile.
Instead our government allows "temporary" workers to flood the country and the wages remain low.
Indeed raising the minimum wages is a good idea, I called it dreaming because Harpo and Gordo would never allow that to happen.

Yes, people do get to a point where they no longer contribute to the economy, but we are sucking shit right now, and do not need more to feed!
Compassion sound great, but it is not feasible given the enormous amount to starving people in the world.

About not contributing, my pet peeve is the military; sure they run a huge budget but all they do is consume!
The kind of wars we see these days are not fought in tanks and jetplanes because the enemy is a bunch of individuals you cannot recognize looking at them.

Why indeed are our "heroes" retired so early by the way? I associate with several who in their late forties are retired and bored already, talk about a drag on the society for the next several decades.

lynn

It's a problem of divided loyalties. On a superficial level there is nothing wrong with a cultural mosaic, it looks pretty but it is not functional at a deeper level. The Tamils are a perfect example of how this works by the way some supported their counterparts in Sri Lanka during the civil war.

The cultural mosaic does not work when immigrants or refugees expect the host country to adopt their ways to those they left behind.

There is a real danger that Canada could resemble that good old horse that was designed by a committee, the camel. In this case the poor beast will have been designed by a committee of 5 year olds, disproportionate and dysfunctional.

snert wrote:

"The cultural mosaic does not work when immigrants or refugees expect the host country to adopt their ways to those they left behind."

I don't think anyone is saying this here, nor are refugees expecting this. Can't we just have the human decency of providing time to adapt to new circumstances...and the wisdom that allows others to retain meaningful parts of their cultural identities?

hardly

Canada, in fact, is much closer (or could become) to a workable model for a multi-cultural future, not just for here - but for the world.

In my view, the five year olds are the ones pretending that traditional Canada, as it was in its white bread past, has anything much of value to hang onto...culturally, (at least outside of French Canada) it's not much more than Ann Murray and Gordon Lightfoot - crossed with Tim Horton and the ghost of hockey night in Canada.

Skywalker

quote:
"A Sri Lankan government representative tells the Canadian Minister that they are all terrorists."

Where did you get this from? This is news, please tell us.

@realisticman

He's simply referring back (with a wise cautionary note) to words YOU wrote.

Perhaps you've forgotten, so I'll quote your own words one more time

Source: the realisticman - this thread - one day ago, under this title:

You are Playing Politics with the Refugees

I think even you would agree that Skywalker's description of the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Ottawa as a Sri Lankan government official is both accurate and correct...

Now, who, exactly, is playing politics with the refugees?

The High Commissioner might sue

The legend gets bigger and bigger! It's like being downtown and you see a bank suddenly surrounded by police cars. Someone in the crowd is told by a bank official that there's a bank robber in there. He goes and tells the next guy that EVERYONE in the bank is a robber.

Here's the quote: (Please read carefully!)
" ...the captain of the ship, a man named “Vinod,” is a known member of the terrorist group."

This is changed by Skywalker to "they are all terrorists" and you missed that, G West?

You are both STILL playing politics with the refugees.

Not at all.

I was, quite simply, responding to your suggestion that (for lack of a simpler explanation) the story-telling (which Toews has been up to his neck in) started with YOUR post...

You're the one playing games and it was time someone besides Skywalker called you on it.

You posted the quote - remember.

AND the one, with respect

who's really playing politics with the refugees is Pee Wee's minister.

Without a doubt, he's doing it with Pee Wee's support and good wishes.

You're just providing a rather cynical and purblind cheering section for him here at the Tyee...Whatever the High Commissioner says, I think we can agree, without argument, that he is SPEAKING ON BEHALF of a group and a government that has NO SYMPATHY WHATEVER FOR TAMILS - refugee or otherwise and a vested interest in pushing a particular point of view.

I had no idea that Vic Toews had taken an oath to support the nation of Sri Lanka. What other foreign governments can we expect him to defend next?

Paraguay perhaps?

refugees

First of all there is a difference between immigrants and refugees. There is also a difference between legal and illegal or documented refugees. The problem this country has, is we allow the illegals to enter and then process them. I for one object to this, we should turn their ship around and send it back without
taking one person off it for any reason. Legal
immigrants and refugees through channels are welcome.
I as a Canadian should not have to take less pension or benefits because some illegal cue jumper gets any assistance at all. Canada is a kind sharing country but we should not be taken advantage of at the expense of our own citizens or the future benefit of our children. Citizens born here, or legally granted citizenship should come first. Illegals should be sent home without so much as a hearing and that is not offensive it is common sense.

lynn

Certainly we can but not at the expense of our own values and that is precisely where the problem lies.

Who has ever suggested such a thing is the case?

There is no connection whatever between admitting refugees and pensions or benefits...the suggestion there is is absurd.

Your quarrel ought to be with the tax system - not the refugee or immigration situation.

As for your suggestion snert: What are the Canadian 'values' you feel are demeaned by our immigration and refugee policies?

In fact, I think the reciprocal of what you've written is actually the truth.

Our failure to adapt and to allow others to become a part of our world threatens our values of compassion and openness with mean-spiritedness.

Perhaps

the reason for the intolerance Canada is showing toward the Tamil (and all the other) refugees who show up at our borders is more of a reflection of political positions than actual financial considerations. In the foreseeable future there will be unbearable pressure upon Canada (and other northern countries) to accept AGW refugees from all the equatorial regions, the main reason being that there is little room in the global south to which they could flee. Denying access will just be like shouting down the rain barrel - accomplishing a lot of unproductive noise but not changing the situation. We would be better served, then, by making friends now with the refugees and keeping them on our side rather than joining "the invaders" when they inevitably arrive. Dogs in the manger always end up being gored by the hungry cattle.