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September 17, 1999
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Balance needed
in immigration debate

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.

    [Speak Out]

      [next story] Questionable tactic

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