I listened to an interesting discussion on CBC with regard to a group forming which wishes to bring many Palestinians to Canada. They are comparing this to our acceptance of Ukrainians this past couple of years. The Ukrainians are the eleventh largest group of diverse peoples in Canada. The Ukrainians have come here following several episodes in their history with the invasion by Russia the latest. Their numbers here are sufficient to help with nearly 1.3 million people of Ukrainian descent in Canada and 220,000 have arrived in two years (so roughly five Ukrainian Canadians for every person arriving). The Ukrainian-Canadians did all the leg work on bringing in their relatives/friends etc. They paid their own passage and most found family to help them I think. It seemed that way anyway. We know they are not Russian so feel somewhat safe bringing them in in large numbers as we do have the third largest group of Ukrainians living outside of Ukraine and do need to protect them from Russians.
The Palestinians, on the other hand, are an unknown quantity. On the 2016 census there were 44,820 Palestinians living in Canada. New entrants would have to go through a security check to ensure we are not bringing in Hamas terrorists - they are after all outlawed in Canada. Fourty five thousand people will not be able to take on a very large number of individuals (doing the five to one as above that would be 9,000) coming here to help support them. Indeed we set our sights on 25,000 Syrians and not that many wanted to come.
The comparison with how the Ukrainians came to Canada these past two years and Palestinians coming to Canada is not valid. The support for Ukrainians formed very quickly amongst the Ukrainians living here in Canada and initially we had few who wanted to come but gradually we have reached 220,000. It has nothing to do with how we might feel about a large group of Palestinians coming but it is a fact that Palestinians all over this country cheered when Hamas attacked Israel on the 7th of October which was absolutely unforgivable and is basically a hate crime. We believe in the supremacy of God and the Rule of Law; it is part of the first line in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I very much agree with that first line. We regard Hamas as a terrorist organization; they are not welcomed here indeed they are not permitted to enter.
There are a large number of Jewish people who are Canadian and we need to protect them first and foremost as we do not know the intent of any Palestinians wanting to come here. Hate crimes against Jewish people have already increased a thousand fold since the 7th of October. In 2019 there were almost 380,000 Jewish people living in Canada.
So I can sympathize with the Palestinians caught in Gaza but the paperwork that needs to be done to even get them through the Rafah crossing is huge on the part of Canada initially, agreement has to then come from Hamas, Egypt and Israel to pass through the crossing. Canada has to do security checks for the above mentioned reason and that takes time and people to do the checks on the spot in Egypt once a pass is obtained through the gates. We are going into winter so they have to have a place to stay and as we all know there is a housing crisis in Canada, inflation has driven up the cost of food and only 44,820 Palestinians living in Canada which means perhaps 10,000 households. How many of them can take in Palestinians? How will they support themselves? Our medical system is already over extended. Who gets to come? only family members of the people involved in this project? In general that works for a while but then money does become a problem especially as they probably will not be able to work unless they have skills and training that is needed and gets them a job if they have a work permit. It was a slow process for Ukrainians to get work permits.
One hopes that Israel is right and this will end in another few weeks with Hamas eliminated from the life of Palestinians.
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