Fleeing to Canada
Gress, Edmund
IMMIGRATION LAW FLEEING TO CANADA HOSPITALITY FURTHER NORTH La Colle, Quebec. They are the "bus people." They come not from Vietnam. Nor from other points in Southeast Asia. Not even from the...
...TV, furniture, stereo, we had it all," he tells a Canadian journalist...
...Benoit Bouchard, the minister responsible for immigration, has been working out arrangements with U.S...
...The immigration measure abruptly changed the prospect...
...And then the law was passed and the dream of living a good life in the States was no more...
...By bus from New York State and Vermont to this Canadian immigration post, a leisurely forty164 five-minute drive from Montreal...
...So temporary procedures have been instituted requiring a preliminary hearing before refugees are allowed into Canada...
...Not even from the battle-scarred Middle East...
...In December, more than 1100...
...Instead, he chose to dwell on the legacy of the United States, what it means to the masses around the globe...
...Moreover, despite changes in the government's stance brought about by the flood of immigrants, the Canadian government is likely to grant most of the bus people one-year ministerial permits, which allow them to live and work in the country while their claims are analyzed...
...The bus people, who fled their native El Salvador and Guatemala to find haven in the U.S., are once more on-the-run...
...All persons fleeing persecution, as defined by the Geneva Convention on refugees, whether they are Central Americans escaping from the U.S., whether they come from behind the Iron Curtain or from the Middle East, whether they are from Asia or Africa, will be welcome in Canada...
...The bus people are coming to Canada in ever-increasing numbers, it appears...
...A new home for the frightened and the dispossessed, it was said...
...The official was in no mood to consider the political impact on relations between Ottawa and Washington...
...Later, they admitted that they had lied...
...Somehow it doesn't seem right...
...It was obvious that most of the refugees were not escaping their homelands for religious, racial, or political reasons...
...First, they streamed in from Portugal, arguing they were Jehovah Witnesses and victims of persecution in their homeland...
...But what people don't accept is that those who are not refugees take advantage of a system to slip into a country like ours...
...So the government is planning new legislation on the dilemma, to be in place before Parliament adjourns for the summer...
...They come to Canada now, just one step ahead of American immigration authorities, whose aim is to crack down on all aliens who have begun to reside illegally in the States since January 1, 1982...
...Refugees may no longer be able to stay in Canada for years while their cases are processed and decided...
...By January, well over 1200...
...El Salvador and Guatemala have been among eighteen countries to which Canada does not deport people...
...A twenty-six-year-old Salvadoran male, a salad-maker in a New York City restaurant, who has brought to Canada his common-law wife, five-month-old son, brother and brother-in-law, happily concedes that all was well till the immigration measure was put in place...
...Others tell similar stories, about working for a sub-minimum wage, hiding in the shadows of America, willing to run the risk of discovery by immigration agents...
...Canada, was compassionate, and, unlike the United States would not return anyone from Central America...
...Suddenly, there was fear, all over again, that she would be sent back to the oppression of Guatemala...
...During the past two months, the Turks have come...
...Without visas, without passports, without any documentation at all...
...They can abuse the system...
...There will be no compromise on Canada's humanitarian course...
...It is here, at this New York State-Quebec border-crossing that this newest wave of desperate persons spin tales of hope, then suffering and tragedy...
...In November, just days following President Reagan's signature on the immigration act, the figure was 700...
...Nearly two-thousand flew into Montreal and Toronto, appealing for refugee status...
...In the past eight months, some 16,000 refugee-claimants have sought entrance to Canada...
...Bouchard submits: "I don't think Canadians are ready to close the door tomorrow morning...
...Then, 155 Sri Lankans, drifting in lifeboats in the waters off Newfoundland, declared they too were victims of persecution, victims of the ongoing rebellion in their nation...
...Refugees coming from America...
...Just the other day a senior policy-making official was musing on the sudden turn of events: this new refugee flow from the United States...
...He has contributed to The Baltimore Sun and The Atlanta Constitution, among others...
...But one pledge remains firm...
...they were desperate for economic advantage, seeking instant jobs, comfort, and happiness...
...The official observed: "When you think of the 165 States, you think of the homeless looking up at the Statue of Liberty and the torch symbolizing hope...
...From this date forward, under the new immigration law signed by President Reagan last November, all aliens who have entered the United States without valid documents face deportation...
...Canada pursues this humanitarian objective even as its refugee policy is under strain—severe strain...
...The allegation turned out to be a blatant falsehood...
...By this time, the Canadian government and the public at large were aroused...
...They were told correctly...
...A former schoolteacher in Guatemala says she was willing to work in a jewelry store all her life, just to remain in America...
...authorities so that the refugee-claimants are not subject to deportation while they wait three or four weeks in border cities for their immigration hearings...
...And the numbers will swell in the months ahead, Canadian officials believe...
...No matter, though, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney himself said it was better to err on the side of compassion...
...They come from the United States...
...Also Bouchard is promising new legislation aimed at winnowing out legitimate refugees from those pursuing economic goals...
...EDMUND GRESS Edmund Gress is an American reporter working for the NBC Radio News Network...
...But the Portuguese were permitted to remain...
...So the Sri Lankans have made Canada their new home...
...The refugees say they were inspired by marvelous tales about Canada...
...Now this illusion of survival is dashed...
Vol. 114 • March 1987 • No. 6
