Open the door and welcome them
Tisdale
December 6, 2015
by: Timothy W. Shire
December 6, 2015
by: Timothy W. Shire
It was back during the election campaign on October 8, when I posted on this web site my rant about the racism, that had crept into the social media, emanating from the intentionally divisive remarks by our then, prime minister. Since that time, he is toast and so are many of his ideas, but the racism stuff is persisting pretty much as I expected that it would. It would be entirely unfair to blame the stupidity of the hijab debate on the current round of racism, but at the same time, it would be equally unfair to think that what so many are now expressing is not, somehow related.
When the Prime Minister Trudeau first began discussing planning for the arrival of a substantial number of Syrian refugees, I was heartened by the amount of positive reactions coming from good hearted Canadians, coast to coast. Just before the announcements, I was planning this story, or rant, but when it seemed that most Canadians could see this process as a positive thing, I shelved the idea. But alas, it is once again the stuff, I am getting in my email from people I thought were my friends, who are pretty much attempting to poison the atmosphere, with regard to the acceptance of refugees. If you have reservations about us welcoming significant numbers of people from a war torn area, I can understand that, caution and the desire to see the lives of the newcomers positively enhanced by joining us in Canada successfully, but if you are one of those who painfully object to the whole process, for a bunch of thinly disguised excuses for racism, I for one, am prepared to condemn you for your opinion.
I am not some cheerleader for tree huggers and libertarians, and I understand implicitly the importance of free speech, but I object pretty strongly to the attitudes that exist about how we should look after Canadians first, and how we should not be opening up the country to freeloaders.
It does not take much examination of the population of Canada, to discover that damn few Canadians of all ethnic blends, did not arrive here, as refugees of one kind or another. The exceptions are in Quebec. The people who were brought over here under the French attempt at colonialism, were not refugees, nor were they all willing participants. Under their form of government, they did what they were told to do and went where they were sent. Among them were some who volunteered and some remarkable women who came over to the new world to be wives for the men struggling to settle the new land. But for the rest of Canadians, we are mostly refugees.
I know you might consider Canada’s first nations people as the original population, but some forces came into play about fifteen to twelve thousand years ago that prompted a massive migration to North America. Once here they made the best of it and adapted to their surroundings, but few of Canada’s first nations people of today, were not forced as refugees, to where they are presently located. There are two big exceptions; the Inuvialiuit and the West Coast people came and have stayed pretty much where they are since their arrival, but most everyone else, at one time or another, were refugees.
When the Europeans arrived and began their campaign, directed by the black robes, the people of Quebec and Ontario were dramatically affected and in turn they launched their own migrations displacing others. The most westerly portion of the five nations, the Ojibwa or Anichinabe were propelled out of Ontario into Manitoba and some as far west as the Alberta border. The Hudson Bay traders moved the Cree from around the bay to fan out westward as their guides and business associates. The Americans bumped one group after another, so that the Dakota people from Illinois, found themselves battling it out for territory all the way to the rockies. The medicine wheels and other evidence on the prairies of early first nations people, were made by people long since replaced and almost nothing is known about who they were and what became of them.
So Canadians don’t have a single thought that somehow you belong here. You came as refugees, some a long time ago and others not so very long ago at all. My grandfather and his brothers came to Canada in 1912, because there were no prospects whatever for them in England. Most of Canada’s people with German family names came to Canada as refugees fleeing the almost continuous war in Southern Russia. They came to the United States and then in desperation settled in Canada.
Even the English gentry who came to Cannington Manor in Saskatchewan’s southeast came as refugees of a sort, as they were second sons with no prospects. The French aristocrats who set up a community south of Whitewood, were refugees from the French revolution and brought with them their peasants. The Catholic Scots, south of Wapella, came to the St. Andrew’s district, as refugees from the Scottish clearances.
Examine the past of any of us Canadians and you will find we came, because we had to. Doukhobors fled oppression and genocide in Russia, Hutterites and Mennonites were German folk who were pacifists and could not cope in the Crimea with almost continuous war. Canada’s Ukrainians came here from Winnipeg to Edmonton fleeing the crush in the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Canada is a nation of immigrants and a nation of refugees. Each of us made the best of it and it has turned out pretty good, but there are only 35,000,000 of us in a land much larger and more endowed than our neighbours to the south and they number ten times more than us, with still lots of room to spare.
Now let’s discuss terrorism.
Canada’s Irish hit the top of the list. They came as starving refugees from the failure of their agricultural system, pretty much caused by the English. But when they came, they brought with them, their fierce intent upon revenge and even had raiding parties in southern Ontario. The only Canadian prime minister to die violently in office, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, was killed in the conflict with the Irish terrorists, the Fenian.
Canada’s pacifist peaceful Doukhobors are productively farming at Kamsack today, but for a time they really were causing problems, as they attempted to blow one another up.
Ten Sikh members sit in the federal cabinet, but this warrior class of people from the Punjab, brought their terror to Canada and to the skies in the 1980s.
Terror and terrorism is a system of activism and it would be difficult to find a group of people in Canada who have not at one time been tainted with this kind of action. Some terrorism, such as the problem in Quebec in the 1970s and more recently with some radicalised members of Islam, is not an international thing, but home grown, stemming from right here in Canada. Whenever democracy breaks down and a people feel oppressed beyond a certain level, terrorism is almost the norm.
Many who condemn the acceptance of refugees point to the recent history to condemn those in the Middle East, but it is important to recognise that societal misbehaviour is not restricted to any one culture, or religion.
The atrocities committed by the peaceful culture we know of as Belgium, almost leads the list for what happened in their African colonies, just as the English carried out genocidal wars in South Africa and even in the 1950s in Kenya. No culture is immune to getting out of control. German, Poland, Japan and the Soviet Union all make modern China look like a picnic. The Spaniards behaviour in South and Central America is as black as American behaviour in that same area. While Americans individually look forward to Christmas only as it gives them a chance to reload their weapons. (Peace on earth and goodwill toward all white men)
What is to be gained by bringing Syrians from camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey? The answer to that question is so simple and so fundamental, these new Canadians will bring with them their skills and training for indeed Syria is one of the best educated parts of the Middle East and the camps are filled to overflowing with skilled and educated people. People who will make a contribution to our land just as our fathers and their father’s did. They will bring their children who will grow up here knowing no other life than what we make for them and they will all become tax payers. Our country’s wealth is not our oil, our forests or minerals, our wealth is our people who each and every day contribute to paying for roads, bridges and government services through income tax and GST.
My concern is that we are aiming to low at just 25,000 but we should significantly use this opportunity to flesh out Canada with more people and their children. However, I also worry that we may be concentrating to much upon Syria and the 4,500,000 people now in camps while missing the opportunity to bring others to Canada who we also know are able to make similar contributions. How much better Saskatchewan would be with two million instead of the one we now have!
When the Prime Minister Trudeau first began discussing planning for the arrival of a substantial number of Syrian refugees, I was heartened by the amount of positive reactions coming from good hearted Canadians, coast to coast. Just before the announcements, I was planning this story, or rant, but when it seemed that most Canadians could see this process as a positive thing, I shelved the idea. But alas, it is once again the stuff, I am getting in my email from people I thought were my friends, who are pretty much attempting to poison the atmosphere, with regard to the acceptance of refugees. If you have reservations about us welcoming significant numbers of people from a war torn area, I can understand that, caution and the desire to see the lives of the newcomers positively enhanced by joining us in Canada successfully, but if you are one of those who painfully object to the whole process, for a bunch of thinly disguised excuses for racism, I for one, am prepared to condemn you for your opinion.
I am not some cheerleader for tree huggers and libertarians, and I understand implicitly the importance of free speech, but I object pretty strongly to the attitudes that exist about how we should look after Canadians first, and how we should not be opening up the country to freeloaders.
It does not take much examination of the population of Canada, to discover that damn few Canadians of all ethnic blends, did not arrive here, as refugees of one kind or another. The exceptions are in Quebec. The people who were brought over here under the French attempt at colonialism, were not refugees, nor were they all willing participants. Under their form of government, they did what they were told to do and went where they were sent. Among them were some who volunteered and some remarkable women who came over to the new world to be wives for the men struggling to settle the new land. But for the rest of Canadians, we are mostly refugees.
I know you might consider Canada’s first nations people as the original population, but some forces came into play about fifteen to twelve thousand years ago that prompted a massive migration to North America. Once here they made the best of it and adapted to their surroundings, but few of Canada’s first nations people of today, were not forced as refugees, to where they are presently located. There are two big exceptions; the Inuvialiuit and the West Coast people came and have stayed pretty much where they are since their arrival, but most everyone else, at one time or another, were refugees.
When the Europeans arrived and began their campaign, directed by the black robes, the people of Quebec and Ontario were dramatically affected and in turn they launched their own migrations displacing others. The most westerly portion of the five nations, the Ojibwa or Anichinabe were propelled out of Ontario into Manitoba and some as far west as the Alberta border. The Hudson Bay traders moved the Cree from around the bay to fan out westward as their guides and business associates. The Americans bumped one group after another, so that the Dakota people from Illinois, found themselves battling it out for territory all the way to the rockies. The medicine wheels and other evidence on the prairies of early first nations people, were made by people long since replaced and almost nothing is known about who they were and what became of them.
So Canadians don’t have a single thought that somehow you belong here. You came as refugees, some a long time ago and others not so very long ago at all. My grandfather and his brothers came to Canada in 1912, because there were no prospects whatever for them in England. Most of Canada’s people with German family names came to Canada as refugees fleeing the almost continuous war in Southern Russia. They came to the United States and then in desperation settled in Canada.
Even the English gentry who came to Cannington Manor in Saskatchewan’s southeast came as refugees of a sort, as they were second sons with no prospects. The French aristocrats who set up a community south of Whitewood, were refugees from the French revolution and brought with them their peasants. The Catholic Scots, south of Wapella, came to the St. Andrew’s district, as refugees from the Scottish clearances.
Examine the past of any of us Canadians and you will find we came, because we had to. Doukhobors fled oppression and genocide in Russia, Hutterites and Mennonites were German folk who were pacifists and could not cope in the Crimea with almost continuous war. Canada’s Ukrainians came here from Winnipeg to Edmonton fleeing the crush in the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Canada is a nation of immigrants and a nation of refugees. Each of us made the best of it and it has turned out pretty good, but there are only 35,000,000 of us in a land much larger and more endowed than our neighbours to the south and they number ten times more than us, with still lots of room to spare.
Now let’s discuss terrorism.
Canada’s Irish hit the top of the list. They came as starving refugees from the failure of their agricultural system, pretty much caused by the English. But when they came, they brought with them, their fierce intent upon revenge and even had raiding parties in southern Ontario. The only Canadian prime minister to die violently in office, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, was killed in the conflict with the Irish terrorists, the Fenian.
Canada’s pacifist peaceful Doukhobors are productively farming at Kamsack today, but for a time they really were causing problems, as they attempted to blow one another up.
Ten Sikh members sit in the federal cabinet, but this warrior class of people from the Punjab, brought their terror to Canada and to the skies in the 1980s.
Terror and terrorism is a system of activism and it would be difficult to find a group of people in Canada who have not at one time been tainted with this kind of action. Some terrorism, such as the problem in Quebec in the 1970s and more recently with some radicalised members of Islam, is not an international thing, but home grown, stemming from right here in Canada. Whenever democracy breaks down and a people feel oppressed beyond a certain level, terrorism is almost the norm.
Many who condemn the acceptance of refugees point to the recent history to condemn those in the Middle East, but it is important to recognise that societal misbehaviour is not restricted to any one culture, or religion.
The atrocities committed by the peaceful culture we know of as Belgium, almost leads the list for what happened in their African colonies, just as the English carried out genocidal wars in South Africa and even in the 1950s in Kenya. No culture is immune to getting out of control. German, Poland, Japan and the Soviet Union all make modern China look like a picnic. The Spaniards behaviour in South and Central America is as black as American behaviour in that same area. While Americans individually look forward to Christmas only as it gives them a chance to reload their weapons. (Peace on earth and goodwill toward all white men)
What is to be gained by bringing Syrians from camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey? The answer to that question is so simple and so fundamental, these new Canadians will bring with them their skills and training for indeed Syria is one of the best educated parts of the Middle East and the camps are filled to overflowing with skilled and educated people. People who will make a contribution to our land just as our fathers and their father’s did. They will bring their children who will grow up here knowing no other life than what we make for them and they will all become tax payers. Our country’s wealth is not our oil, our forests or minerals, our wealth is our people who each and every day contribute to paying for roads, bridges and government services through income tax and GST.
My concern is that we are aiming to low at just 25,000 but we should significantly use this opportunity to flesh out Canada with more people and their children. However, I also worry that we may be concentrating to much upon Syria and the 4,500,000 people now in camps while missing the opportunity to bring others to Canada who we also know are able to make similar contributions. How much better Saskatchewan would be with two million instead of the one we now have!
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