Canada has been known to accept people from around the world who are in need of a safe place to protect them from their home countries. However, when it comes to situations such as the situation with a Tunisian citizen, Canada seems to act based on the wishes of Tunisia, something that consequentially pleased the Tunisian Canadians. In this case, the Tunisian ambassador to Canada asked Canada if they could freeze the assets of a member (Belhassen Trabelsi) of the Ben Ali family: the family who Tunisia’s former dictator belongs to. The Tunisian ambassador was acting on the best interest of the Tunisian people, and was honouring the international arrest warrant for the former dictator. The issue with that Trabelsi had stolen large amounts of money from Tunisia.
What political implications would this event have on the Canadian government? It is possible that this could improve Canadians’ feelings towards the people Canada allows into our boarders? My feel is that the Canadian government acted in a manner that not only honoured the Tunisian people, but also Canadians altogether. When it comes to granting citizenship to refugees, is there a line that shouldn’t be crossed? When those people could pose a political or physical threat to Canadians, is it possible that the Canadian government being too lax?
There have been countless examples of people who are tied to various international gang organizations or have committed crimes in their home countries who are granted citizenship or residency in Canada. Over the past year, there have been boats arriving in British Columbia from Sri Lanka, said to have Tamil Tigers on board. These people were taken in by the government, treated medically, given food and accommodation, and processed through immigration Canada. Although most of those people had full right to take refuge in Canada, could it not be possible that some were coming to Canada because they had heard about Canada’s relatively relaxed immigration policies? Should policies be put in place to prevent our tax dollars from being spent on possible gang type groups from gaining residency in Canada?
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