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[sabotabby]

If you haven't read frandroid's post on the devastating flooding in Pakistan, you really should. It's hard to fathom the scale of something like that, so he transposes the disaster to Canada. If I thought that our government had anything resembling a conscience, I'd suggest that he send it as a letter to them in hopes that they would do the decent thing and send aid, but I don't have that sort of optimism.

At least one man who was on board the MV Sun Sea died while the ship was at sea. A few people have been posting about this, but basically a cargo freighter full of Tamil refugees has arrived in Vancouver, and, like I said, our government doesn't have a conscience and the initial response was to clear out some room in a jail.

As you know, Bob, the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka is an issue near and dear to my heart. I can't help but read stories like this and envision my kids on board. What disturbs me the most beyond fear for the immediate survival of those on board is the utter inhumanity with which Canada has greeted them. It's not just our government that has no conscience—it's the people of this country and their "fuck you, I got mine" attitude. The refugees are terrorists. We should close the borders. Throw them in jail. Send them back to their home to face persecution and death.

Where are the protests? Where are the Canadian patriots who pride themselves on our unearned reputation for peace and diplomacy and health care and why aren't they laying out the welcome mat? Other people have made the connection already, but are we all too young and ignorant of history to remember the immigration official in 1945 who, when asked how many Jews would be let into Canada after the war, replied: "None is too many?" Do we remember the St. Louis, or do we just not give a shit about these things, even now?

Comments

[slantedtruth.livejournal.com]

as my radical buddy just put it on fb:
brian mulroney, august 1984: “to think that, in some way, 155 sri lankans will diminish our citizenship and ruin our immigration policies is not the resilience and strength of canada

[sabotabby]

...wow. Almost makes the bastard seem benign compared to our current bastard.

[lienne.livejournal.com]

This thing with the boat makes my faith in humanity hurt. Elsewhere on the internets I'm arguing with some asshole who wants to send them all back because by paying exorbitant fees to board the boat they were, says he, supporting human trafficking.

[sabotabby]

Oh! Link! I have no time but I sort of want to go at him.

[finaldiscussion.livejournal.com]

I'll email you. XD

[numb3r-5ev3n.livejournal.com]

Amongst my liberal friends here in the USA, Canada was often held up as a bastion of Things What Are Better Than Here. As in, "If anything else gets worse here, I'm going to Canada."

I have stopped hearing this since Bush left office. But reading your LJ has really popped the bubble of that misconception.

I really am losing hope in just about every aspect of organized government in general.

[sabotabby]

Granted, I think most white, middle class Canadians are substantially happier about the state of the country than I am. But just because things are comfortable for me and for people who look like me, I'm not cut off from the fact that they've gotten substantially less comfortable for everyone else.

I don't think that government, in and of itself, is the major problem here. It's governments that in many ways don't believe in government—specifically, that they value the coercive elements of the state and not the useful, productive elements of the state. Less money for healthcare and welfare—we're trying to reduce the deficit after all—but there's lots of money for global summits and going to war.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

The St. What?

[sabotabby]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_St._Louis

[lovableatheist.livejournal.com]

When I brought up the St Louis and the similar case of the Komagata Maru in a facebook group for a conservative talk radio station in Ottawa, one of the responses I got was "they must have had their reasons for turning them away." Yes, and their reason was that they were racist shitheads.

[kellista.livejournal.com]

i kind of think that as the proportion of people who've dealt with the 'point system' and related immigration hoopjumping increases, the populace gets way more incensed at supposed 'queue jumpers'. not that there's a queue at all for refugee claimants. this is based primarily on my highly caffeinated state radio consumption. compassion fatigue ftw.