It’s been six weeks since the new Canadian government of Liberal leader and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau swept to power in Ottawa. A key election pledge to admit 25,000 Syrian refugees into Canada by the end of the year became a priority for the new government.
Trudeau has three Cabinet ministers and key government departments trying to meet that goal. It was an ambitious target, and now that his government is actually at work in Ottawa the reality is proving difficult. Canada, his government announced, can only take in 10,000 before the end of the year. It’s not because Ottawa and Trudeau are making a U-turn on the vow. It is because officials overseas simply can’t adequately process the sheer number who want to take up the Canadian offer.
Yes, 10,000 now, with many thousands more to follow as soon as the application process is streamlined. How refreshing to see a nation ready and willing to welcome the desolate and desperate and offer a new home and a fresh start.
In Europe, right-wing parties have gained in the polls for their xenophobic policies that target Syrians, branding them merchants of terrorism, radicals who will unleash Kalashnikovs and bombs on the boulevards of European capitals. And in the United States the refugees are shunned as if they are radioactive and virulent. No, they are but homeless, hapless and hated, and in desperate need of peace, prosperity and pride. Canada offers that. Too bad others do not have the moral courage to follow suit.
