Dear Mr Harper,
Canadians need you to take action now on the Syrian refugee problem. Writing on behalf of the Nanaimo chapter of WILPF (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom), we ask that you do the right and humanitarian thing; send VISA officers to the United Nations refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. The inhabitants in these camps are overwhelmingly women and children who need our help and must be brought to Canada immediately. This group must be at least 10,000 refugees over and above our existing commitments.
Canada has facilitated urgent rescues in the past in Chile (1973) and Vietnam (1979) when we airlifted 50,000 refugees. We must trust that the Immigration Department can handle the job, simplify the paper work and just do it as they have in the past. The RCMP and security services will again do their jobs as we saw with the Uganda and Kosovo rescue missions.
With the exception of the First Nations people, we are a country of immigrants and refugees. As well as public support, we see mayors of our cities and premiers of our provinces taking a stand on this refugee issue. Just today the European Commission proposed 160,000 refugees to each of the EU countries and Australia has committed to resettling 12,000 refugees in addition to the 13,000 already promised.
Bombing ISIS which contributes to the destabilization of Syria is not the answer to the refugee situation. As Prime Minister of Canada, Canadians expect that you, together with the leaders of the other three parties, will develop an immediate rescue plan.
Yours very truly,
Dyane Brown , President
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Nanaimo Branch
204-220 Townsite Rd, Nanaimo, BC, V9S 5S8
Has one comment to
While I agree that bombing is not an answer, I think that the demand regarding refugees is like asking our Prime Minister to give in to blackmail. Unfortunate as this situation is, it is not the only place in the world where people are desperate and need saving. Bringing tens or hundreds of thousands of people into Canada where there are no jobs for them is only giving them false hope.
I am beginning to believe that if women across the world are to be helped then the best way would be to guarantee every woman a basic income. Those who want to play the war games should be made to pay the cost of basic income for people who want peace.