We talk a lot about the plight of refugees in Canada. But nobody concerns’ themselves with the plight of the legal immigrants. The amount of money they have to pay, the trials and tribulations they have to go through, the long waits, the lack of any help and support when they arrive in Canada and try to find a job. As a person who has gone through this process myself with first hand experience I find it abhorring that fake refugee claimants often find far more support with open arms in this country than the legal ones.
I have heard stories about some refugee claimants, stories that I can corroborate, that leaves me angry and frustrated with the system. About people who come here claiming they are gay and are helped by the gay community and the moment they get their landed immigrant status go back to their country to marry and bring their brides, the country they claimed if they go back to will persecute them. Of the so-called political refugees who claim they have escaped their country and if they get back they will be executed or jailed, but the moment they get their landed immigrant or citizenship status go back and live and work in that country. Of people who come here claiming they have been under religious persecution because they had converted to Christianity and attach themselves to a gullible church here and get letters supporting their claims and the moment their claim is accepted disappear and never show up in the church again. And then I see highly educated and honest people, who apply for immigration through routine legal channels and are rejected.
Indigenous Canadians, who have been born in Canada, because they are not in touch with the immigrant community firsthand don’t know and hear about these stories. The immigrant communities usually don’t discuss and share the stories with the indigenous people because they feel they have a moral duty to support each other even ones among them that have come here illegally. But there is no such restriction among immigrants themselves and they talk about these stories openly. The wall of silence is only there when it comes to the indigenous citizens and media. And boy oh boy, the stories you share among your fellow countrymen about the fake claims!
For example I hear a lot about real political refugees who are rejected while the ones with the more spectacular stories that does not have any base in truth are accepted easily. People like me and my countrymen, because of our personal experience in our country, can easily separate the fake story from the real one, but not Canadians. It pains me that unfortunately so many of the claims come on the side of fake. But of course I know a Canadian born in this country is a poor judge in these cases, it is easy for them to believe these stories as they don’t have firsthand experience. Sometimes I feel all judges for refugee claimants from each country should come from among people born and bred in that country so that they can’t be cheated so easily.
The other injustice is the easy path of millions of illegal immigrants in the US that will be exonerated and soon become citizens while honest educated people who want to immigrate there through legal channels are not allowed and are rejected. As a landed immigrant myself, I am outraged about the event and I don’t think I am alone here. I find it a highly partial and biased process, unjust and hypocritical. What it says to people is: don’t bother about the cumbersome process, just manage to set foot in this country, we are going to give you amnesty soon, while your brethren who have tried the legal ways are left out. Will we do the same to others who have committed illegal acts, to thieves, murderers, criminals? No, and we don’t accept if somebody suggests it, but we let the illegal immigrants through this same process which we deprive other criminals. If the big business needs cheap slave labor, to counter the unions and the indigenous labor, let them bring them through legal channels, with work permits and due legal protection, instead of this most unfair and crooked process.
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