Canuck government backpedals on admitting Syrian refugees

During last fall's federal election campaign, Canada's Liberal Party -- pandering to Muslims, immigrants and Volvo liberals all in one go -- promised to bring 25,000 refugees from war-torn Syria to Canada by the end of the year. Canuck voters, moved by a picture of a little boy drowned on a beach, poured their compassion straight into the ballot box, making Justin Trudeau their new Prime Minister and John McCallum the new "Minister of Immigration and Refugees" (sic).

Hallowe'en and Christmas came and went. By New Year's Day the number of refugees admitted fell well short of the target. But don't worry, said the Hon. Mr. McCallum, we'll get 25,000 here by the end of February, even if we have to frogmarch them onto the planes. No matter that some contrarians called "Canada's welcome of 1000s of Muslim refugees 'reckless, politically correct thinking'", or that some of those living comfortably in hotels (on the taxpayers' dime) were already clamouring to go home.

As the Canadian winter wore on, it became clear that many Canadians (and wannabe Canadians pushed to the back of the queue by the Syrians) weren't happy with the favoured refugee status being accorded to 1000s of Muslims -- doubtless including at least a few Islamic extremists -- who cannot and will not be assimilated into Canadian society. A fierce anti-Muslim, anti-refugee backlash quickly became evident in the comments appended to pro-refugee propaganda planted by the Liberals every damned day in the lamestream media. See "'Real Canadians hate Syrians!' - Calgary graffiti reflect poll results", WWW 21/2/16.

But never mind. Now that the election's over, Messrs Trudeau and McCallum don't need to read the comments or pay attention to the polls. Indeed, Mr. McCallum (pictured before and after his Minoxidil treatments) was pleased to announce that the target had been met and 25,000 refugees -- oops, "New Canadians" -- had indeed been "welcomed" to the Great Not-so-white North, and were being fast-tracked to citizenship.

But wait, he said... there will be more! Why stop at 25,000?! Canada could easily take another 10,000 by the end of 10/6. Maybe even another 25,000! Wouldn't that be great?! That would win Canada a seat on the UN Security Council for sure!

And then came silence. Some idealistic Canucks are still read, even eager to take in more Muslims. Hundreds of Canadians who’ve come together to sponsor Syrian refugees are being told it could be next year before their new charges arrive, after a series of changes to the Liberals’ resettlement program. In Toronto, upwards of 600 private groups have spent months raising money, finding apartments and gathering supplies. But now some are being told it will be more than eight months before the families they are sponsoring arrive, while others hear that if they’ve not yet been matched with a family it’s unlikely they’ll see anyone before 2017.

Why so? Well, it seems the Gliberals have quietly put a cap on applications this year, and have cut back on staff handling the paperwork. Moreover, they're bring back -- very quietly, again -- the travel loan programme under which refugees have to repay the government for the airfare, rather than flying for free in RCAF planes. These changes essentially reverse much of what the previous Conservative government and then the Liberals did to respond to a surge in demand last fall for Canada to bring in more Syrians.

Questions were asked in the House of Commons this week, but M Trudeau wouldn’t directly address the cuts. "We continue to be engaged with the issue of Syrian refugees, making it a priority to continue to show that Canada is a strong and welcoming country," was his platitude for the week.

Meanwhile, John McCallum -- now referred to as the Immigration Minister (only) -- said he is "aware" that enthusiasm to support Syrians won’t last forever. Well, duh! But in spite of his statement that "We want to create the conditions where Canadians are able and as quickly as possible to sponsor those refugees," the flood of real or alleged refugees has been reduced to a trickle. Between February 27th and March 8th, 600 new government-assisted refugees and 433 privately sponsored arrived. In the 12 days after, only nine (9) government-assisted refugees and 16 privately sponsored arrived. Only one person who is part of a program that blends the two streams arrived in that time.

Walt advises Canadians to hold their applause until, say, November, when there may well be a surge in the number of refugee applications from, errr, the US of A!

Further reading: Are draft-dodgers or people who leave their country just because they don't like the government real refugees? See "The definition of a 'refugee' narrows", by Adnan Khan, in Maclean's.

UPDATE 31/3/16 - "Canada backtracks on backpedaling on refugees". I had to check twice to make sure I hadn't slept through a day and opened my eyes on April 1st.