Things sure are hopping in Canada these days. Check our Canada category for a whole series of recent articles on immigrant problems north of the border. Here is a story that says that Canadian officials are planning to reform the refugee program there and one rumor is that Canada would list safe countries from which refugees and asylum seekers would be ineligible to come to Canada from — in other words countries where persecution is not rampant.
UNHCR head honcho Guterres* is there to try to get Canadian minds right on the issue.
From the Toronto Sun:
OTTAWA – The world’s top official for refugees gave his cautious approval Wednesday for a controversial approach the federal Tories are rumoured to be considering to reform Canada’s asylum system.
Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, is in Ottawa for two days to meet with government officials and non-governmental organizations. His visit comes as Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is promising to table a package of reforms to Canada’s refugee asylum system, which can take up to six years to get a final decision. Guterres says he will be discussing the potential reforms with officials.
One of the rumoured reforms is a list of safe countries from which no one could apply for refugee status. Refugee advocates say limiting access isn’t fair because all claimants deserve a hearing.
Guterres said the list can work if the countries are properly classified and if the system is open to the idea people can be persecuted in democratic countries. He pointed to democracies in Africa where women face genital mutilation or countries where there’s no protection for gays and lesbians.
“Even if the country could be considered a safe country of origin, it is important leave the door open to serious consideration of protection claims,” Guterres said.
I see a potential problem with such a list too. Someday Swedes, Norwegians, Dutch and even Brits might want to escape persecution and come as refugees to Canada or the US as their countries are taken over by the Marxists and Muslims.
Reforms we expect to see in the US look like they are all going to revolve around more money, give us more money, we need more of your money!
*Geez! Someone told me the other day that Guterres was some bigwig Socialist so I thought I would look him up, sure enough he is, check out his bio here. He was having cocktails at the Washington “celebration” I attended a week ago, but I didn’t hang around to schmooze. Seems anyone who is anyone these days is a Socialist!