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Date: |
Fri, 17 Sep 1999 21:12:58 -0700 |
Subject: |
FW: toronto star comment |
From: |
"Kevin Doyle" <kpd@pacificcoast.net> | Block
address |
To: |
Victorywong@yahoo.com | |
|
Victor,
The enclosed will interest you.
Kind regards,
Kevin
Subject: toronto star comment
Date: Fri, Sep 17, 1999, 12:27 PM
The Toronto Star
Balance needed in immigration debate
Friday September 17, 1999
A Chinese migrant, desperate for a new life, pledges $40,000 to a
Snakehead to take him to North America. He boards a decrepit ship,
leaving
family and friends behind, and spends two miserable months crossing
the
Pacific. If he is lucky, the vessel reaches Canada's west coast.
He is detained, interrogated and if he cannot show that he is fleeing
persecution, ordered to return to China. A furor erupts in Canada about
queue-jumpers and lax immigration laws.
*****
A wealthy investor in Hong Kong, seeking a more secure future,
pledges to
invest $400,000 in Canada. He flies to Vancouver and checks into a
five-star hotel.
His application for permanent residency status is processed by
pleasant
immigration officials.
No one protests. No one questions the fairness of the system. Even
when
he builds a monster home in a quiet Vancouver neighbourhood, the
grumbles
are muted.
*****
There has been something cock-eyed about this summer's immigration
debate.
Canadians have demanded that Ottawa crack down hard on migrant boat
people, without asking why foreigners with deep pockets should be
given
front-of-the-line treatment.
Government critics have sounded the alarm each time a boatload of
migrants arrives, while ignoring the evidence of widespread fraud in
the
immigrant-investor program.
Both the smuggled migrant and the affluent investor are, in essence,
buying their way into North America.
Both the would-be refugee from Fujian province and the monied
newcomer
from Hong Kong are, knowingly or not, relying on criminals to advance
their interests. The migrant puts his fate in the hands of a smuggler.
The
foreign businessman puts his money into an investment fund, managed by
dubious middlemen.
If Canada wants to send out a message that its immigration rules are
fair
and consistent, it cannot punish the 600 migrants who have arrived by
boat
this summer, while ignoring the other flaws in the system.
Human smuggling is a serious international problem. The steps the
government is taking - sending RCMP officers to Fujian province,
keeping
the migrants out of the clutches of the smugglers and meting out tough
jail sentences to the crews of the smuggling ships - are good.
But this summer's influx needs to be kept in perspective:
Every month, an average of 500 refugee claimants arrive at Pearson
Airport. They are no different from the Chinese boat people, except
that
they are less visible and probably better-off.
It is unlikely that even half of the Chinese migrants will be allowed
to
stay. Every person who arrives in Canada seeking asylum is allowed a
hearing. But the Immigration and Refugee Board rejects 56 per cent of
refugee claims.
There is little danger of any of the Fujian migrants becoming a
burden on
the country. They've risked their lives to come to North America to
earn a
good living. Those who are accepted as refugees will work extremely
hard.
The impact of 600 Chinese boat people on life in Canada will be
minimal.
By contrast, the impact of the more than 16,000 immigrant- investors
who
have settled in Canada since 1986 has been immense. Wealthy investors
from
Hong Kong and Taiwan have changed the face of Vancouver and bought up
most
of the choice real estate on the Pacific coast.
Those who are shouting loudest for a crackdown on illegal migrants
might
want to ask themselves a couple of questions: Would they be more
welcome
if they came with suitcases of money? Would Canada be the kind of the
country it is today without boatloads of people who came with little
or
nothing?
It is true that Canada has a smuggling problem to solve. But it also
has
some deeper issues to confront.
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