Yes, I was attracted to Canada by the opportunity it offered - and so are the people crossing at Emerson now. The US is no longer seen as "the promised land" or the "land of opportunity" by many around the world - Canada is - and I think that is something we should be proud of. It is wrong to say these people are refugees from the US - it was merely a part of the route they took to get to Canada. They are refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, Sub-Saharan Africa etc places from where they have been displaced by war, persecution and famine.
Looking at past migrations to Canada it would seem only the initial invasion by white settlers led to conflict with an indigenous population. In the intervening years there have been many periods of refugee influxes often involving tens of thousands of people at a time and none of them have led to any conflict of note. Many thousand of these refugees were muslim, many thousand more came from communist countries, still others were Jews, Iranians, Bhutanese, Chilean or Palestinians. They have contributed to the fabric of this great country and there is no reason to think the current influx of migrants will do any different.
Looking at past migrations to Canada it would seem only the initial invasion by white settlers led to conflict with an indigenous population. In the intervening years there have been many periods of refugee influxes often involving tens of thousands of people at a time and none of them have led to any conflict of note. Many thousand of these refugees were muslim, many thousand more came from communist countries, still others were Jews, Iranians, Bhutanese, Chilean or Palestinians. They have contributed to the fabric of this great country and there is no reason to think the current influx of migrants will do any different.
Comment