Friday, July 30,
1999 Learn the facts before rejecting new
arrivals The idea that we are being
flooded with refugees is a myth
Francisco Rico-Martinez National Post
A boat arrives in Vancouver with 123 passengers on board, having
made a difficult 39-day voyage from China. Before the passengers
have a chance to tell their story, they have been labelled economic
migrants, queue-jumpers, illegals, criminals. Within days
commentators are urging that the laws be changed and the Charter of
Rights be set aside so such boats can be pushed back and Canada be
protected from the peril of these unwanted arrivals.
Twenty years ago other boats, these filled with Vietnamese
refugees, captured Canadians' attention. When neighbouring countries
gave them a hostile welcome, pushing some boats back, Canadians were
horrified. The plight of these refugees moved Canadians to launch a
massive resettlement program that brought 60,000 Indochinese to this
country in just two years. The generous and enthusiastic welcome
Canada has been offering more than 5,000 refugees from Kosovo has
been in the same spirit.
So why has the boatload of Chinese generated such hostility?
Many will say: because they are not refugees. Yet what do we know
about why they left? Who knows what individual stories of
persecution may have driven them to make this uncertain voyage on a
rickety ship? Ten years after the Tiananmen Square massacre, human
rights reports continue to present a disturbing picture of rights
routinely disrespected in China.
The horrors of the flight of the Vietnamese "boatpeople" and the
Kosovar refugees were well-publicized. Daily TV and newspaper
reports told us their story. But most refugees don't get that kind
of coverage. Their sufferings go unrecorded in the media. There is
no sticker on their forehead that proclaims them to be refugees.
This is why we have a determination process to distinguish between
those who are refugees and need our protection and those who are
not. It is premature to say they should all be immediately sent back
before they have been able to say anything. Yet we have branded them
"economic migrants" before they have even entered the determination
process.
Another reason for the hostility towards the Chinese is that they
arrived uninvited, without waiting their turn, going through the due
processes and following the law.
Yet if any of the Chinese travellers prove to be refugees we
won't be able to blame them for coming uninvited. It is in the
nature of being a refugee: You are forced to flee and can't be
expected to wait for someone's permission. This is why, according to
international law, rules prohibiting illegal entry into a country
don't apply to refugees fleeing persecution.
We recently saw what happens when countries flout this principle:
In response to the unwelcome arrivals of uninvited Kosovar refugees,
the Macedonian government closed its border on several occasions,
leaving Kosovars stranded on the wrong side of the border, under the
noses of their persecutors.
But, we are told, drastic measures need to be taken because
Canada is too easy to get into. How can we possibly say that
spending 39 days in an ill-equipped boat is an easy way to get into
Canada? Whether or not the passengers were refugees, they must have
been quite desperate to set out on such a voyage.
The fact is that our geography means that only a minute
proportion of the world's refugees ever reach our shores. Canada
receives less than three-tenths of one per cent of the world's
refugees. Contrast this with Pakistan, which has by itself 10%.
Nor is Canada being overwhelmed by vast numbers of non-refugees
abusing the refugee determination system. The number of refugee
claimants received each year has remained very stable at roughly
25,000 annually.
Bear in mind, too, that last year Canada actually received far
fewer immigrants than the government had planned for: 20% (42,000
immigrants) fewer than the year before. Ironically, the shortfall
was blamed on the "Asian flu."
Critics and observers of Canada's refugee and immigration
policies can probably all agree that the system is not perfect. No
doubt it can be improved. But the arrival of a mere 123 claimants by
boat is certainly not cause for calling into question the whole
system. Or for proposing the elimination of people's basic right to
be treated fairly.
The public arena is an appropriate forum for discussing policy
changes (preferably in an informed and calm manner). Trial by media,
however, is not the way to determine what should happen to these 123
Chinese claimants. We have a system to deal with that.
So why don't we cool down and let the system do its job?
Francisco Rico-Martinez is the president of the Canadian
Council for Refugees. |