For the last week or
so, Canadian media have flooded the market with wonderful pictures and stories of
refugees being greeted by dignitaries including the Prime Minister, in Ontario,
by the Premier and a host of well meaning individuals who are doing their bit
to help. There are lots of stories being circulated about how wonderful the
Canadian public are in their almost overwhelming generosity. According the
latest polls, it would appear that even those who just a few weeks ago were at
best lukewarm about Syrian refugees coming to Canada have gotten if not on the
bandwagon - at least they are no longer trying to stop it. Some politicians who
before the election were questioning whether or not it was wise to allow
refugees in, are now expressing concern that the process is taking too long or
that it is not well organized.
How sad. If this out pouring of support and generosity had happened
18 -24 months ago when a few people including me started to write about the
almost non-response of the Canadian government to the crisis, it would have
been rather exciting. Canadians could have, with some justification, patted
themselves on their collective backs. We could have been proud that we were
doing something that only a few countries were doing. But we didn't do anything
in spite of the daily news of the refugee crisis in the Middle East and in Europe.
. And while it is convenient to blame the previous government for not doing
more (or in fact doing anything), that is a cop-out. We didn't demand that they
do anything. It was far too easy for us to sit back and muse about the dangers
of terrorism in some other part of the world. It was easier to watch our soup operas,
reality shows or hockey or baseball games than it was to do anything about help
those who were suffering. We were happy to believe what the government said.
While I am delighted that the present government wants to be
proactive in all kinds of international issues, I am some concern about how
easy it is for us to be led. If a different party had been elected in November,
and if they had had a different view of refugees, would we have gone along with
it? If Mr. Harper had eked out another majority government (if one looks at the
popular votes numbers he was not that far away from doing so), would we have continued
to blithely accept his view that Muslims were potentially too dangerous to be
allowed to come to Canada in any numbers? As we pat ourselves on the back for
being such nice people (and isn't it grand that other countries now like us),
it would be perhaps useful to remind ourselves that not that long ago we were
patting ourselves because of how pragmatic we were.
Yesterday afternoon while doing some banking at the largest
shopping mall in Peterborough, I noticed a
lady talking to two women wearing the
Refugees
For the last week or
so, Canadian media have flooded the market with wonderful pictures and stories of
refugees being greeted by dignitaries including the Prime Minister, in Ontario,
by the Premier and a host of well meaning individuals who are doing their bit
to help. There are lots of stories being circulated about how wonderful the
Canadian public are in their almost overwhelming generosity. According the
latest polls, it would appear that even those who just a few weeks ago were at
best lukewarm about Syrian refugees coming to Canada have gotten if not on the
bandwagon - at least they are no longer trying to stop it. Some politicians who
before the election were questioning whether or not it was wise to allow
refugees in, are now expressing concern that the process is taking too long or
that it is not well organized.
How sad. If this out pouring of support and generosity had happened
18 -24 months ago when a few people including me started to write about the
almost non-response of the Canadian government to the crisis, it would have
been rather exciting. Canadians could have, with some justification, patted
themselves on their collective backs. We could have been proud that we were
doing something that only a few countries were doing. But we didn't do anything
in spite of the daily news of the refugee crisis in the Middle East and in Europe.
. And while it is convenient to blame the previous government for not doing
more (or in fact doing anything), that is a cop-out. We didn't demand that they
do anything. It was far too easy for us to sit back and muse about the dangers
of terrorism in some other part of the world. It was easier to watch our soup operas,
reality shows or hockey or baseball games than it was to do anything about help
those who were suffering. We were happy to believe what the government said.
While I am delighted that the present government wants to be
proactive in all kinds of international issues, I am some concern about how
easy it is for us to be led. If a different party had been elected in November,
and if they had had a different view of refugees, would we have gone along with
it? If Mr. Harper had eked out another majority government (if one looks at the
popular votes numbers he was not that far away from doing so), would we have continued
to blithely accept his view that Muslims were potentially too dangerous to be
allowed to come to Canada in any numbers? As we pat ourselves on the back for
being such nice people (and isn't it grand that other countries now like us),
it would be perhaps useful to remind ourselves that not that long ago we were
patting ourselves because of how pragmatic we were.
Yesterday afternoon while doing some banking at the largest
shopping mall in Peterborough, I noticed a
lady talking to two women wearing a hijab and a man. They had clearly been shopping as
both of the women were carrying shopping bags. The woman doing the talking
stopped for a minute to allow the man to translate what she had said to the
other women. While they could have been from anywhere, and one should not
assume that because they did not speak English and were wearing a hijab that
they were refugees - I did wonder. I also wondered if I should say something to
them - like "welcome".
I didn't do that -in part because what I really wanted to
say was "I am sorry. I am sorry it took us so long to act like human
beings who share the planet with you. I am sorry that it took so long to get
off our collective rear ends to invite you to share what we have."
Inviting 25,000 refugees is a good start. But the larger
issue needs to be not forgotten. It is well past time that Canadians, outside
of the House of Commons, start to impose our values upon politicians - not the
other way around.
No comments:
Post a Comment