What’s Ahead?
by Kenneth Bagnell
This morning I opened the paper to news that ought to inspire every Canadian. The good news is from our Prime Minister Trudeau who, on Monday at the UN, got huge standing applause when announcing that Canada has by now welcomed 31,000 Syrian refugees from the brutal oversight of the vicious Syrian leader, Basher Hafez al Assad. (He regards barbarism as things going as usual.) He is leading one of history’s most brutal civil wars, so far claiming 250,000 lives. Yesterday, addressing the Syrian refugee desperation, PM Trudeau said this; “I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that Canada’s engagement must not stop at resettlement. Now is the time for each of us to consider what more we can contribute…” To me, it’s essential that we acknowledge that the foundation of this rescue of refugees is largely based on Judaic-Christian commitment, from Reform synagogues and progressive Christian churches. I mention all this for a philosophic and political reason: if we did not have the current Trudeau government we would not have this accommodating welcome to extremely desperate Syrians.
A very brief reference to the Harper conservative government on refugees is fitting. The country’s largest daily, The Toronto Star, in a leading editorial said this of the refugee crisis and the Harper government: “So how did Harper’s conservative government channel Canada’s compassion in the face of one of the worst humanitarian crises in memory? By shutting the door on refugees, delaying their resettlement and leaving some in limbo, at a time when the Syrian exodus of misery was cresting.” One more reference to Harper from the highly reliable Globe & Mail: “The Globe & Mail has learned that the Prime Minister intervened in a file normally handled by the Citizenship and Immigration department… the PMO asked for the files of Syrian refugees so they could be vetted by the PMO –potentially placing political staff with little training in refugee matters in the middle of an already complex process..” (Thus we see the old Harper attitude with its façade of goodwill to desperate refugees, some of whom deserved vetting but not getting a “valid” one.)
There’s now need to examine the views of one of the new Conservative leadership candidates, a woman who has chosen a political platform that seems close to being a virtual replica of the one man leadership of Harper. She’s intelligent. Her name is Kellie Leitch, an Ontario MP, a skilled and respected pediatric physician-surgeon at Toronto’s Sick Children’s Hospital before her election in 2000. She was in the Harper cabinet as Minister of Health, and subsequently Minister of Labour. She was, it’s claimed, first out the gate in her campaign for leader. Her platform is, in almost every way, a reflection of the Harper approach in both agenda and attitude. In my view and several of my journalist friends, Leitch’s “platform” supports a very excessive scrutiny of refugees, something very many Canadians subsequently oppose by voices on the radio and a letter to the editor. Why do they object? For a basic, legitimate reason: it goes against the principles of Canada’s own clear Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In turn that charter is woven into Canada’s way of life by largely forming Canada’s culture and Canada’s values and character. As we know, or should know, it’s humane and it’s compassionate. Those of us now in or beyond middle age should realize that to screen excessively if not endlessly every single Syrian citizen who wants to become a Canadian is excessively onerous. So? At the same time, immigrants of all kinds who have taken up the country’s entrance requirements, have enormously enriched us.
For but one example, there’s the major Italian migration of recent decades. One example of many: back in the early 1950s Italian migrants established an excellent social organization, COSTI, an organization which now welcomes people of all cultures who seek help. It provides free training in many areas of work. It serves families who are troubled, unemployed, needing language training and much more. Moreover, a decade or so ago, a group of highly successful Italian-Canadian business people made a very generous financial contribution to health and medical programs. All of this from immigrants and or their descendants. Who is to say Syrian refugees will not over time replicate the Italian newcomers.
Hence, in today’s Canada, this is no time to introduce Dr. Leitch’s suspicious, intrusive investigatory style approach to newcomers. Naturally, in this passage of our history, there is cause for professional and competent custom principles. But Dr. Leitch crosses the line from custom procedures and complex investigations that will be almost impossible to carry out given the number of newcomers. What. Dr. Leitch envisions – deliberately or accidentally – is a subtle system shaped to discourage any Syrian refugee seeking to come here. She is ethically and morally wrong. It hints of Donald Trump, a man everyone knows is — to thinking people — one the most distained and disrespected politicians of modern history. In turn, Dr. Leitch would want immigration officials to check newcomers so excessively that any migrant who thought of Canada as his or her homeland, would be assumed to be a threat.
No wonder Rona Ambrose stepped in, and I can’t help thinking she wants to help recast the Harper right wing approach with a more altruistic one. As if to support her, in her statement, the country’s largest newspaper, The Toronto Star, said in its September 7 lead editorial: “Last week, the Tory leadership aspirant floated the idea of screening immigrants for ‘anti-Canadians values’ an appeal plucked directly from Donald Trump’s nativist playbook.” I simply can’t understand why an intelligent person like Dr. Leitch could be lured to such self-serving practice. It is utterly at odds with Canada’s tradition. Little wonder that John McCallum, the current Immigration Minister, was indignant over her coarse and callous proposal. As he put it: “We’ve done it in 12 months for decades, and it has worked extremely well with refugees from other places.” He mentioned Vietnam, Hungary and Uganda as examples.
I doubt – unless surprising change overtakes it - the policies of the current Conservative party, are unlikely to extend the hand of compassion to newcomers. Leitch is, as far as her policies go, too close to being an echo of the Harper era. I expect current Conservative leader Ms. Ambrose would like to see such chilly policies reduced. At its heart, her admonition to Dr. Leitch was an encouragement to her hopes and mine. She recalls for me, words from one the great leaders of the 20th century, Dwight D. Eisenhower. He spoke to all ambitious politicians when he said long ago: “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionable integrity….”
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