tamil ship

[trucks12trucks]

I was reading the globe and mail this morning and someone wrote this in to the editor
"Concerning the toughening of laws about boat migrants, I have a simple solution. Boat migrants can be accepted for Canadian citizenship on one condition: They must agree to settle for at least 20 years in areas of Canada that need more population: for example, the Far North, rural Canada, even Newfoundland. Then we shall see who really wants to be a Canadian."

I kinda like the general idea IF these refugees do end up being accepted into the country. For future I would rather they not accept anyone.

[Andit]

When my Dad came to Canada (as a refugee) in the 50s, he was sent to work on a farm in Alberta. The fact that he was a city boy & had never seen a farm in his life pretty much marred his chance of success at that endeavour. He lasted about 6 months before he was allowed to go east.

My friend's Dad, who also came in the 50s & actually grew up on a farm, had to spend 2 yrs working on a farm in Sask.

What I find very frustrating is the way the system is set up. Until someone is allowed to work, they must be supported by taxpayers. Unless they immigrate through legal channels, in which case they must be supported by their sponsor.

A gal I know went to England on a work visa & ended up staying for a couple of years. While she was there, she met someone & got married. When she came back to Canada, her husband had to wait a year before he could immigrate (at this point they'd been married over 2 yrs). Then once he got to Canada, he had to wait an additional year to be eligible to be allowed to work. This is someone whose grandparents were born in England (a commonwealth country!), so it's not as if there was some question of missing documents from his country of origin.

[Poirot]

I was reading the globe and mail this morning and someone wrote this in to the editor
"Concerning the toughening of laws about boat migrants, I have a simple solution. Boat migrants can be accepted for Canadian citizenship on one condition: They must agree to settle for at least 20 years in areas of Canada that need more population: for example, the Far North, rural Canada, even Newfoundland. Then we shall see who really wants to be a Canadian."

I kinda like the general idea IF these refugees do end up being accepted into the country. For future I would rather they not accept anyone.

How about sending them to the downtown eastside of Vancouver if they want to live in a populated area.

[Andit]

How about sending them to the downtown eastside of Vancouver if they want to live in a populated area.

& maybe we could put those residents on the ship?

[cliff]

-

[VeeVee]

NO offense but war crimes have been committed all over the world...no government stepped in when my people where being bombed and after 73 days of protests nothing was done.
If you want to come to Canada then do it like every person legally...Just bc you want something doesn't mean you can jump the line, there is people all over the world in desperate situations trying to get away to save there lives and families.

[FallenPixels]

The statement that they are not butting in line is completely wrong. I know of people who applied at the same time as me for permanent residence etc but because their processing centres are busier dealing with reugee claims, they got theirs much later than me.

The 50k some of these people paid to be smuggled here would have easily shown the amount needed to live for a year in Canada, they could have come as visitors and applied for refugee status legally once here

I don't for a second think they are all terrorists (nor are all Tamils, although I question some of the actions at Tamil protests in Toronto and whether holding our highways hostage on a work day should be classed as an act against the city so I can see where some of the bad feeling comes from).

However, these people funded terrorist activities in their payment to be smuggled (to Australia or here, no matter where the destination was) and I can see why the government needs to put a stop to that. Yes, its just one boat but there is a limit the number of refugees a country can maintain in any given time and allowing too many in when there are economic issues only serves to increase bad feelings (and I don't think it is necessarily racism, but an economic issue to anyone 'in the system')

When I first moved here, I had to attend a meeting where our work permits were given out, despite having a degree from an English university, I had to pass an English test. Many people there on the same day were refugees, chatting in English but they failed the tests on purpose. Why? Because the government will pay for an ESL course for you, they take the money and use it for a friend's school and pocket half the money.

[madchives]

thinking i should never have asked, personally i had a grandmother
excape ireland.
i hate the logic of "if i don't have - neither should you"
lowest common denominator.

how about everyone should have food?
a great life?
a world everyone would want to be in?

[grumpy]

I thought that this was a really interesting and thought-provoking movie on immigration - has some big stars in it. Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, Jim Sturgess - Crossing Over from 2009. I think it's still running on the movie channels.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0924129/

[Patty Smyth]

I thought that this was a really interesting and thought-provoking movie on immigration - has some big stars in it. Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, Jim Sturgess - Crossing Over from 2009. I think it's still running on the movie channels.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0924129/

I saw it too, an eye opener for sure.

[Natalka]

More on the way, as we figured there would be.
BUT, these are in Bangkok on TOURIST visas - so then they aren't really refugees, are they? They should be seeking refugee status in Bangkok, or whichever safe place they got to outside of Sri Lanka...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1689499/

Very good points made in this article about 'safe haven' -

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1690667/