Saturday, 28 January 2017

In Canada, Justin Trudeau Says Refugees Are Welcome

Posted by sizzledfeed on 23:23

In Canada, Justin Trudeau Says Refugees Are Welcome
By IAN AUSTEN

President Trump’s executive order is not only at odds with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s policies, but also does not reflect the general support in Canada for the Syrian refugee program.

Chris Wattie/Reuters

OTTAWA — As President Trump’s executive order on immigration stranded people around the world and provoked condemnation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada took to social media to restate the country’s open-door policy.

“To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith,” Mr. Trudeau wrote on Twitter on Saturday afternoon. “Diversity is our strength.”

Another post showed him in photograph with a child, apparently a Syrian refugee who had just arrived, with the caption “#WelcomeToCanada.” The post was shared at least 224,000 times on Twitter.

Mr. Trudeau’s immediate priority after he took office in late 2015 was to drastically accelerate the entry of refugees from Syria. From that point to early January, the latest available figures, his administration has admitted 39,671 refugees into a country with a population of about 36 million.

Cameron Ahmad, Mr. Trudeau’s press secretary, declined to comment on whether the Twitter posts were an indication that Canada may welcome some refugees who now found themselves shut out of the United States.

“The prime minister is looking forward to discussing the success of Canada’s immigration and refugee policies with the president when they next speak,” Mr. Ahmad said.

Any move by Canada to quickly offer asylum to refugees frozen out of the United States would certainly pose logistical problems. And it seems unlikely that the government would put such refugees ahead of a long line of claimants who have already been told they will be allowed into Canada.

Mr. Trump’s executive order is not only at odds with Mr. Trudeau’s policies, but it also does not reflect the general sentiment in Canada, where the Syrian refugee program enjoys widespread support. About 16,000 Syrian refugees who have arrived since November have been wholly or partly sponsored by individual Canadians or groups that have come together to raise sponsorship funds. During Mr. Trudeau’s current cross-country tour, the chief complaint about immigration has been that refugees are not arriving as quickly as would-be sponsors would like.

As a result, Mr. Trudeau’s social media posts may have been primarily aimed at a Canadian audience. He has been taken to task by some Canadians on social media and during his road show for not strongly attacking Mr. Trump’s past remarks on women and his policies, both proposed or already implemented, that conflict with Mr. Trudeau’s political agenda.

But Mr. Trudeau, like his predecessors’ dealings with other presidents before him, has been careful not to criticize Mr. Trump or his administration. He offers instead only pat answers about the importance of Canada’s relationship to the United States and his government’s desire to have a constructive relationship with the American administration. While attacking the president might be popular among Mr. Trudeau’s supporters, the government believes it could have harmful and unproductive consequences.

Two members of Mr. Trudeau’s cabinet came to Canada as refugees and were born in the predominately Muslim countries now targeted in Mr. Trump’s executive order. They include Ahmed Hussen, the immigration minister, who was born in Somalia.

The immediate effect of the executive order within Canada was muted. Major Canadian airlines are not allowing people holding citizenship from the seven countries covered by the presidential action to board flights to the United States. But WestJet, a major carrier with several flights to America, said that by Saturday afternoon it had turned away only one passenger.

It is unknown, however, how many people tried to enter the United States by automobile, only to be turned away, or who simply abandoned such travel plans.

Credit:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/world/canada/justin-trudeau-trump-refugee-ban.html?_r=0