Canada braces for tsunami of DREAMers

Now that the flood of bogus refugees from Haïti has slowed to a trickle -- around 75 a day, down from 300 in July -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin "Junior" Trudeau and his alleged government were beginning to worry that there would be no more opportunities for virtue signalling. How fortunate for them that President Trump played right into their hands by announcing the end of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

DACA, which was accomplished by an executive order which Attorney General Jeff Sessions calls unconstitutional, has allowed young, undocumented immigrants (read: "illegal immigrants" or just "aliens") to remain in the US of A for years. The reprieve from deportation was supposed to be temporary, renewable every two years, while a "path to citizenship" was worked out. That path is to be found in the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM), a legislative proposal first introduced in the US Senate on 1 August 2001. It has been reintroduced several times since, but has failed to pass. Those who think it will ever become law are therefore rightly known as "DREAMers".

Now the DREAM has ended, and the DREAMers must wake up to the reality that they are in USA illegally and might be deported at any time. But, as the saying goes, when one door closes, God -- or in this case Justin Trudeau -- opens another. Unmindful (or downright heedless) of the anti-immigrant backlash engendered by his January tweet that Canada welcomes all those who are fleeing persecution in President Trump's America, M Trudeau has already let it be known that the door to Canada is open to DREAMers, tens of thousands of them. Hell, they don't even have to come in by the door. Just walk across the world's longest undefended border and no-one will stop you, except to carry your bags and give you directions to the welfare office.

The bearer of this good (for the DREAMers) news is none other than the Honourable Ratna Omidvar, a Canadian senator supposedly representing Ontario. In fact the sentiments she expressed today would not be shared by many outside of the Greater Toronto Area, but since that's where these "refugees from America" will wind up, that's OK.

Senator Omidvar is supposed to be an Independent senator -- not affiliated to any political party -- but she was nominated by Junior and is, in fact, rolling out the red carpet (geddit?) on behalf of the Liberal government. Presumably that's to avoid having the announcement made by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (seriously, that's his title), who is himself a refugee from Somalia, and a tad darker than the senator. And a (shudder) man. And a Muslim. Bad optics.

But I digress. What Senator Omidvar told the CBC (surprised?) today is that the DREAMers are precisely the kind of immigrants Canada should be pursuing for its economic migrant program. "These individuals are low-hanging fruit for us," she said. "They speak fluent English, they've been educated in the US, most of them have been to college or university, some of them have work experience. They understand the North American working culture. On top of that, in order to qualify to be a 'DREAMer' you have to have biometrics testing, you have to have a criminality check. So this is America's loss but it could be Canada's gain."

How many DREAMers should Canada take? The number of young people protected under President 0's DACA program is estimated at 800,000, give or take 25%. Even the most liberal of Canadian snowflakes would find that a rather large crowd to accommodate all at once, so Senator Omidvar proposes that Canada give "special consideration" to only 10,000 to 30,000. Since the Liberals don't want to tell Canucks they have to take in another 20,000 "refugees" (give or take 50%), the senator suggests the DREAMers by admitted either through the existing economic stream or as international students.

"We know that international students have already been identified by our system as priorities for permanent residency," said the solon. "And in truth, we have not done so well in turning an aspiration into a reality because most international students still choose to go back. So, here are people who could apply for international student programs. Universities and colleges could come up with some special initiative or special outreach — college-to-college, university-to-university — maybe even a special scholarship program. But over time, they would be top of the line for economic integration."

Senator Omidvar didn't say anything about cultural integration. Slipped her mind, no doubt. Nor did she say anything about the additional costs to Canuck taxpayers of providing accommodation and education for another 20,000 (give or take 50%) newcomers. What do you suppose Canadians will think of the honourable senator's dream? Canadian citizens won't have a chance to vote their approval or otherwise until the fall of 2019. And even then, since the Canadian Senate is appointed, not elected, it won't matter to Senator Omidvar.

Footnote and innocent question: Agent 3 suggests that I ask the archtypical Canadian question about Senator Omidvar's background: What is she, anyway? (Whenever one Canuck meets another for the first time, that's the second question he/she asks: What are you, really?)

Senator Omidvar's official biography, on the Parliament of Canada website, says she is "an internationally recognized voice on migration, diversity and inclusion. She came to Canada from Iran in 1981 and her own experiences of displacement, integration and citizen engagement have been the foundation of her work."

However, the Wikipedia version of her bio says the honourable senator was originally from Amritsar, in India's Punjab province. She was educated at the University of Delhi and (it goes on) "later moving to Canada, she became executive director of the Maytree Foundation, a charitable organization to combat poverty in Canada, before departing in 2014 to found the Global Diversity Exchange at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University where she is currently a distinguished visiting professor."

The Honourable Miriam Monsef, still a member of the Trudeau cabinet in spite of her demonstrated incompetence, was born in Iran but declared in her campaign for election that she was a refugee from Afghanistan. The Honourable Ratna Omidvar's narrative seems to go in the other direction -- an Indian who fled from the Ayatollah. Whatever she is, she's not an "old-stock Canadian", which, along with her SJW credentials, makes her perfect for Team Trudeau. "Independent"...HAH!

Footnote to the footnote: Speaking of old-stock Canadians, it's only a month until the start of the NHL season, which means the our old friend Poor Len Canayen will put on his toque and return to WWW... in about a month.