Refugee advocates dispute Canada facing ‘crisis’ over arrival of claimants from U.S. border, NDP says ‘Conservatives misrepresent issue’
Debate over Ottawa’s handling of the settlement of refugee claimants has both the Trudeau government and the Conservatives trying to bait each other into appearing too soft or too hard on the hot-button issue, but the Tories should be wary of appealing to the baser instincts of voters, say advocates and political players. “I think […]
House committee votes to examine feds’ response to migrant issue, calls in three ministers to testify
The House Immigration Committee unanimously voted on Monday to hold an emergency study examining the issue of the irregular crossing of migrants into Canada from the U.S. at a rare summer meeting, which saw the Conservatives’ motion for the study being amended multiple times. The committee plans to assess Ottawa’s response so far in resettling migrants […]
Telling feds to pay more for asylum seekers is fair game for Premier Ford, stopping cooperation is not
New Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s move to stop cooperating with Ottawa on asylum seekers arriving in the province is, at best, a negotiating tactic for more federal support, and at worst, a cynical, political manoeuvre at the expense of good public policy. Let’s hope it’s more the former than the latter. Mr. Ford has cancelled […]
Ford government’s move to withdraw support for resettlement of asylum seekers ‘short-sighted,’ says Vaughan
The Ford government’s decision to halt its co-operation with Ottawa on the resettlement of asylum seekers could throw a wrench in the plan to establish an information-sharing system between the province and the federal government that seeks to alleviate pressures on social services. Calling the influx of migrants entering Canada a “mess” that Ottawa is […]
‘We’re in the middle of shifting our system to deal with a lot more irregular migrants,’ says Trudeau
Canada is changing its asylum system in response to the thousands of would-be refugees pouring across the Quebec-New York border, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, while a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen (York South-Weston, Ont.) says the feds’ efforts to deter economic migrants from using the asylum system are now starting to pay off. […]
Will a new immigration crisis influence the outcome of the next federal election?
TORONTO—A refugee crisis influenced the outcome of the 2015 federal election. Will a new immigration crisis do the same in the planned 2019 federal election? It was the shocking photo of three-year-old Alan Kurdi lying face-down and dead on a Mediterranean beach, after he, his five-year-old brother, and mother all drowned when their raft capsized […]
U.S. still unsafe for refugees
In the face of overwhelming pressure, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on June 20, reversing his policy of separating migrant children from their families. While this is a positive change, the U.S. remains unsafe for refugees. Imagine the following scenario. Maria has survived years of horrendous domestic abuse at the hands of her […]
Nothing safe about the U.S. for Central American refugees
The recent visit of Canadian human rights worker Karen Spring to Ottawa as she attempted to convince Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland to go to bat for her imprisoned human rights advocate husband, Edwin Espinal, should remind us how bad things really are in our own hemisphere. Espinal has been locked up in a military prison in […]
Canada leads the way to a historical pledge of $3.8 billion at G7 for girls’ education in conflict and crises
It’s been more than five years since I spoke to Zeinab, a young girl from Syria living in a tattered tent within a makeshift refugee camp in Lebanon. But her story is seared into my memory, one of both paralyzing fear and burgeoning hope. It’s Zeinab who I think of today when celebrating the G7’s historic […]
Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees: Bob Rae presses Canada’s efforts in precarious situation
OTTAWA—When Bob Rae speaks, people listen. Or so it seems. Last week’s announcement by the Trudeau government of $300-million in support over three years for the Rohingya of Myanmar does not satisfy the recommendations of the report by the prime minister’s special envoy to Myanmar, Tell Them We’re Human, but Rae admits it is a […]
