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Monday July
20,
2009 BACK NEXT
Immigration
Minister Jason Kenney, who last week announced controversial visa
restrictions on Czechs and Mexicans, said he did so to fix a refugee
system that doesn’t work.
The Mexican government retaliated by imposing visa
restrictions on Canadian diplomats and officials. But while
everybody agrees that something has to be done, nobody’s
ever been able to define what that “something”
is all about.
I have followed immigration issues for many years and
I’m
no expert, but I’ve
acquired enough evidence to say that the biggest problem preventing
any government from finding a solution to its immigration and
refugee system is not the lack of diversity of ideas, but
it’s
all the political posturing that follows any proposal from whatever
government.
A political party complains about the system while in
opposition and makes a commitment to fix the problems when in
government, and at the end of the exercise, nobody is doing anything
for fear of being called a racist or
anti-immigrant.
This means that whoever is in government will make a lot of
proposals for big reforms, but at the end of the day, only small
changes are made to appease so-called mainstream Canadians, without
alienating so-called “ethnic
Canadians.”
Basically, it is not about immigration, it’s
about politics and votes.
So, the question is not about the seriousness of the
government’s
intentions or the capacity of Kenney. I have a lot of respect for
him and his team. But the question is about his strength and courage
to follow through to the end and endure the attacks from the
opposition parties who will take Conservatives to task on any change
and will try to perpetrate the myth that the Conservatives are
against immigration and minorities.
I don’t
believe any political party in Canada is against immigrants or
immigration. The problem is that none of the parties can afford for
another party to take credit for solving the problem and reap the
electoral benefits.
This kind of thinking, even though understandable, gives
politics and politicians a bad reputation.
Considering that at this time we have a minority government
and nobody has enough numbers to do a serious or in-depth reform of
the immigration and refugee system, I think Kenney should do what
Prime Minister Stephen Harper did with the reform of
Canada’s
Employment Insurance system: he should turn it into a bipartisan or
multipartisan effort.
The problem is not just confined to Canada’s
refugee system; it’s
the consequence of a larger problem with the whole immigration
system.
It takes years to become a landed immigrant in Canada, so
people who really want to immigrate to our country try other
avenues. Some ask for political asylum. Others go underground and
become illegal workers. The system gets clogged and people are
exploited.
This is a human and an economic tragedy that requires the
help of everybody to solve. I understand that political positioning
is important, but this posturing has been dragging on for more than
a decade over an issue that will endanger not just the future of
thousands of people, but will endanger our economy and our
country’s
future.
Kenney should at this point act beyond any partisan interest
and ask the leaders of the opposition parties to come out in front
of their responsibilities.
Considering that everybody agrees that we have a problem, the
opposition parties should stop telling us only what they
don’t
like and put on the table solid proposals on how they want to solve
the problem.
At that point, it will be up to the minister of immigration
to collect all the suggestions and transform them into a political
proposal that everybody can subscribe to. I believe this can be
better accomplished by creating a multi-partisan committee formed by
politicians and not by appointed experts.
I don’t
have anything against experts, but it’s
important to have politicians who must take responsibility for their
suggestions and support them.
The solution of this important problem can be achieved only
with a broader political
consensus. |