Exploiting Haiti

The earthquake disaaster that has afflicted Haiti has called forth a huge outpouring of goodwill from the people of other countries, particularly the USA and Canada. Concerts have been held, disaster funds collected and relief efforts organized. Thus we see human nature at its best.

We also see human nature at its worst. Apart from looting and numerous examples of sauve qui peut, stories are beginning to emerge of unscrupulous individuals exploiting the goodwill for their own selfish gain. We've heard already of bogus charities and people kidnapping supposedly orphaned children for adoption (read sale) to well-intentioned North American families. But here's a new one.

A man wandering around the ruins of Port-au-Prince spied a credit card issued by a Canadian bank. (Whether the card was clutched in the hand of a corpse is not known.) Thinking quickly, he presented himself at the Canadian embassy. Using the credit card as his ID, he got himself refugeed home to Canada right away quick.

On his arrival in Canada, the Red Cross showered him with clothes and cash to replace those he'd obviously lost in the quake. Not satisfied with what he received, the man went on a shopping spree. Or he would have, had a store clerk not been suspicious that the man couldn't speak French, as most Haitians do.

You guessed it. The man turned out to be Nigerian. He is now being held in a detention centre in Montréal. But wait, there's more.

The Nigerian has now claimed refugee status. This being Canada, he will be allowed to remain here until he has had a hearing plus appeals if he's not happy, all the while being fed, clothed, housed and so on at taxpayers' expense.

I don't think I need to comment further, but will pass on the explanation given by the Canadian Red Cross. They said that their mandate is to help people, not to be concerned with immigration status. Besides, even if the man isn't Haitian, he's still a victim!