It seems these people fleeing for their lives were just not ready to come to Canada.They were too busy saying goodbye to family and friends and those with assets needed time to sell them
In the olden days, "refugee" or more specifically, "Convention refugee" had a specific legal meaning. That was before Western governments became enamoured with the migrants that were swarming into Europe from the Middle East.
Under the 1951 Geneva Convention, Convention refugee was defined as "someone who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country."
This doctrine of international law was incorporated into the domestic law of several countries including Canada and the United States.
Under the definition, a genuine refugee must have a well-founded fear of persecution for one of the enumerated reasons. The fact there is a civil war in a person's country of nationality does not make that person a refugee. That has now gone by the wayside.
Since the time the body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi was found on a beach of the Mediterranean Sea in Turkey last September everything changed. At least for some people. Instead of determining if individuals and families were real Convention refugees, the acceptance of and admission into Canada became a numbers game. Whether or not these future newcomers to the country are real refugees or even Syrians was tossed in the garbage.
Prior to the October federal election, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that 10,000 refugees would be accepted before the end of 2015. Harper said he would give preference to Christians and Yazidis; people who would qualify as legitimate refugees because they risk persecution because of their religion. This was frowned upon by the left who accused the Tories of discriminating against Muslims.
When Justin Trudeau and his Liberals obtained power they announced Canada would accept 25,000 refugees before the end of 2015. When it became obvious that target could not be met they reduced it to Harper's 10,000 but said 25,000 will arrive in Canada before the end of February.
Now the idea of accepting 50,000 by March is being floated. With only days left before 2016 begins, the government is nowhere near their reduced target of 10,000.
Numbers, numbers, numbers. Look at how many "Syrian refugees" we are going to accept. What wonderful humanitarians are we. We care. Well, they care about numbers but not about whether these people are genuine refugees, economic migrants or terrorists. Neither does the government care about the cost to the taxpayer to resettle these people who may or may not be genuine refugees and who may or may not actually be Syrian.
When the government formally took power on November 4, John McCallum was sworn in as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. The name of the ministry was changed from the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. While it is not unusual for new governments to change ministry names, the new name shows the government's priorities. Immigrants and refugees are more important than citizens are. And being a Canadian citizen is no big deal.
McCallum is best known for the fact he was once not allowed to board an aircraft because he was too drunk. As frequent flyers and frequent imbibers of adult beverages know, being a passenger on a commercial flight is not the same as driving a car. You pretty well have to be falling down drunk to not be allowed to fly.
Although McCallum swore he was giving up alcohol, some statements he has recently made make some Canadians doubt this fact.
Three weeks into the Trudeau government's tenure, the Minister said religion will play no part in determining who can come to Canada; the country will take the most vulnerable people. This completely disregards the definition of a refugee as someone who fears persecution because of their religion. With that statement, the legal definition was tossed aside.
Shortly before Christmas, McCallum announced why the unrealistic goal of bringing so many people in by a certain date could not be met. As Liberals are wont to do, it was not their fault; it was "beyond the government's control."
It seems these people fleeing for their lives were just not ready to come to Canada when the government wanted to bring them. They were too busy saying goodbye to family and friends and those with assets needed time to sell them.
This is proof positive that the people Canada wants to bring in are not refugees as envisioned by the Geneva Convention and the signatories to that convention that incorporated the definition of Convention refugee into their domestic law.
People are being brought in not because they are genuine refugees but to be used as props in government photo-ops so they can show how much they care. The short term costs to Canadian and the long term consequences of having so many newcomers in the country are irrelevant.
The definition of a "refugee" is now anyone the government arbitrarily and for political purposes decides is a refugee. And others who may be legitimate refugees from other countries; well they are not worth thinking about.
In the olden days, "refugee" or more specifically, "Convention refugee" had a specific legal meaning. That was before Western governments became enamoured with the migrants that were swarming into Europe from the Middle East.
Under the 1951 Geneva Convention, Convention refugee was defined as "someone who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country."
This doctrine of international law was incorporated into the domestic law of several countries including Canada and the United States.
