Desperately Migrating - Or Conveniently

The world is a horribly unsettling and hostile place for many of its inhabitants.  People who live in countries where civil strife, poverty, internecine warfare, tribal animosities and inter- and intra-country belligerence makes life a misery for its inhabitants.  Everyone would prefer, if at all possible, to escape the misery of social, political and economic uncertainty and the very real prospect of being maimed or slaughtered, raped and humiliated, looted and made homeless by events beyond one's capacity to either understand or to protect oneself against.

As matters now stand, the migration of desperate people away from war zones, from starvation, and deprivation, leaves millions of human beings eking out horrible lives of suspended normalcy in countless refugee camps.  Advanced countries of the world have a recognized obligation to absorb as many of these homeless people whom hope has passed by, as practically possible.  The process of recognizing and absorbing refugees is a long and involved one; to ascertain the legitimacy of claims and the suitability of claimants, and to begin them on the long voyage to reclaiming their lives.

It is an arduous, heart-breaking situation, where discouraged and miserable people eventually find haven in one country or another.  Not all countries have the capacity to absorb, to pay for the upkeep of people new to a country, to learn a new language, establish themselves, find employment and feel comfortable in their new surroundings.  Canada has a well-earned reputation as a compassionate country, with social programs that are designed to aid refugees until they become capable of aiding themselves.

To escape persecution, drudgery, fear and misery represents an immense alteration of life's fortunes.  Canada's reputation as a safe, reliable and pliable haven for families anxious to begin new lives ensures that there will be many instances where people claiming to be refugees take advantage of the generous opportunities available within the country.  Many genuine refugees as well as quasi-refugees seek out the services of people-smugglers, paying unconscionable sums of money to be conveyed into the country where they can then declare themselves.

Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board currently has a 60,000 backlog of asylum seekers.  It takes years for a hearing before the Board to be conducted.  In the interim, refugee-status entrants to the country are able to take advantage of generous social welfare.  They may seek paid employment, apply for free housing and medical/dental care while waiting their appointment before the IRB.  Approximately 30,000 to 40,000 asylum seekers arrive in Canada annually.

Canada's costs for processing, for legal fees, welfare, housing, medical care, outstrips what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees budgets in their care for the millions of refugees under their recognizance.  And there is this to consider: some 60% of claimants are discovered not to represent genuine refugees at all.  So even if they are refused asylum, refugee-seekers may, under Canadian law, seek a review of the negative findings by the IRB.

Failed refugee claimants may simply disappear, and not be heard from again, becoming part of Canadian society, rather than meekly accept an order to leave.  Alternatively, they may seek and receive approval of immigrant status.  And with that status comes the potential to sponsor other family members to Canada.  Refugee claimants such as the Tamils who have recently arrived by boat off the B.C. coast have sought the quick and easy way to attain status, shoving aside the long lineups that other claimants must legally pursue.

The refugee claims of Tamils in particular may be found to be questionable; the Sri Lankan government no longer actively persecutes their Tamil minority as they once did, in response to the violent activities of the Tamil Tigers - which terror group, it is well known, found financial support from Canada's large expatriate Tamil community.  Their status can be seen in the very fact that Tamils, settled comfortably in Canada, return to Sri Lanka for holidays.

The world has more than enough genuine refugees who are languishing in squalid misery in countless refugee camps throughout the world.  It is to these people that opportunities should be given, not those who have the wherewithal to further their bogus claims, taking illicit and immoral precedence through the illegal use of human smugglers.