🚀 go-pugleaf

It's interesting to read messages from recent or pending immigrants to Canada
who tell long-term Canadians what we 'owe' them.
Let's compare Canada's record with that of a British Colony that is exporting
economic immigrants to us in huge numbers....

CANADA'S REFUGEE RATIO HIGHER THAN MOST OTHERS

(Canadian Press - Ottawa - March, 1994)

Canada is a haven for refugees, accepting a greater proportion of those
who come knocking at its doors than any other industrial country, Statistics
Canada says.

But it's not just refugees who are finding Canada's doors open, as Canada
takes in proportionately more immigrants in total than the 2 other major
countries that traditionally attract immigrants - the United States and 
Australia.

Canada in recent years has admitted about 250,000 immigrants annually -
which, with a population of about 28.5 million works out to a rate of 8.8 
per 1,000 Canadians, compared with a rate of less than 2.5 per 1,000 in
the United States.
	_____________________________________________________

(from the Vancouver Sun -January, 1995) via Associated Press/ John Leicester

HONG KONG PEOPLE ANGRY VIETNAMESE ALLOWED TO STAY

(Hong Kong) The residents of Tuen Mun want every visitor to know how they 
feel about their new neighbours.

The Hong Kong suburbanites have draped a banner in front of their ferry pier
proclaiming: We Strongly Protest the Placement of Vietnamese Boat People in
Tuen Mun's Pillar Point Refugee Camp.

That sums up the state of Hong Kong's sympathies for the boat people.

Most Hong Kong residents are themselves refugees from communist China who
came to the British colony for political freedom or a better life.  But
instead of identifying with the Vietnamese, they see them as a TAX BURDEN
and a cause of friction with China.

More than 220,000 Vietnamese of various ethnic groups have fled to Hong
Kong since communist North Vietnam defeated the U.S.-backed South in 1975.

Only human rights activists speak out for the boat people.  They accuse
the government of sending back genuine political refugees and criticize
living conditions in the camps.

Hong Kong legislators and China are demanding all the boat peope be 
evicted by 1996 - TO BRITAIN IF NECESSARY.

"Don't tell us now that there will be leftovers," said legislator Allen Lee.
"I don't think the Hong Kong people can accept that."
		___________________________________

WOMAN SENT HOME STRUGGLES TO SURVIVE

(via Associated Press - Kathy Wilhelm):

(Haiphong, Vietnam)  Leaving home was an easy choce for Dinh Thi Thu back in
1988.
The only job she could find was as a housemaid and her unemployed husband 
took out his frustrations by beating her.
Fishing boats were pushing off weekly for Hong Kong from secluded spots up
and down the coast around Haiphong.  Everyone knew someone who was going to 
the booming capitalist haven (Hong Kong) on the southern shore of China.

But coming come has been hard for Dinh Thi Thu.

She staged a 6-day hunger strike but that didn't stop Hong Kong officials
from carrying her onto a plane on April 7, 1993, and sending her back.

She is one of nearly 1,000 Vietnamese forcibly sent home by the British
Colony over the past 4 years.

The West, sympathetic after the decades of war in Vietnam, took most of the
Vietnamese refugees in.  About 135,000 went to Canada, including 60,000 in
1979-80.
			==========================

Now, what exactly are our recent Hong Kong immigrants telling us with regards
to 'tolerance' and what Canadians owe to prospective immigrants?