![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldIn a recent statement, occasional actor and humanitarian Angelina Jolie called on the world to help Iraqi refugees.
The flood of post-2003 Iraqi refugees is, despite recent claims from some, continuing, with millions residing in insecure circumstances in Syria and Jordan and thousands continuing to cross Iraq's western border. This, the largest population movement in the post-Cold War Middle East, is an unalloyed catastrophe.
That's what got me wondering. Canadians can be proud of their country's decent record towards the "boat people", refugees from Indochina who were eventually resettled in Canada with the help of local communities, eventually forming the nucleus of a dynamic Vietnamese-Canadian community. There are already plenty of Iraqi-Canadians (Wikipedia, Multicultural Canada) with relatives in Iraq, many of these relatives now displaced internally or externally. Why not admit those refugees? Couldn't an influx of Iraqi refugees, frequently from that country's tortured middle classes, often belonging to persecuted minorities, make a wonderful contribution to Canada?
It looks like we won't find out, alas, since the Canadian government is making few exceptions to its policy of keeping them out.
Various community organizations have complained about the lack of official support, even though some measure of popular support support does exist and could be mobilized.
I guess that Canadians and the rest of the world really have become that deadened to the sufferings of the wider world. The boat people were lucky, the Iraqis, eh, at least they made good video back when people cared.
Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), met officials from the United Nations, the U.S. embassy and the U.S. military in central Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
"She's here in her official capacity to talk to government officials, the military and the United Nations about Iraq's refugees and displaced persons," Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. envoy to Baghdad, told Reuters.
Jolie also visited Iraq last August, when she went to a makeshift camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) and met Iraqi refugees in Damascus, capital of neighboring Syria.
She said she wanted more information about IDPs and to discuss the problem with the Iraqi government, U.S. officials and aid workers, as well as to meet local Iraqis.
"There are over 2 million internally displaced people and there doesn't seem to be a real coherent plan to help them," Jolie told CNN. "There's lots of goodwill and lots of discussion but there seems to be just a lot of talk at the moment and a lot of pieces need to be put together," she said.
The flood of post-2003 Iraqi refugees is, despite recent claims from some, continuing, with millions residing in insecure circumstances in Syria and Jordan and thousands continuing to cross Iraq's western border. This, the largest population movement in the post-Cold War Middle East, is an unalloyed catastrophe.
That's what got me wondering. Canadians can be proud of their country's decent record towards the "boat people", refugees from Indochina who were eventually resettled in Canada with the help of local communities, eventually forming the nucleus of a dynamic Vietnamese-Canadian community. There are already plenty of Iraqi-Canadians (Wikipedia, Multicultural Canada) with relatives in Iraq, many of these relatives now displaced internally or externally. Why not admit those refugees? Couldn't an influx of Iraqi refugees, frequently from that country's tortured middle classes, often belonging to persecuted minorities, make a wonderful contribution to Canada?
It looks like we won't find out, alas, since the Canadian government is making few exceptions to its policy of keeping them out.
Canada has indicated it has no plans to change its approach to those seeking refugee status. Marina Wilson, a spokesperson for the federal department of Citizenship and Immigration, says it will continue to treat their cases individually and was unaware of any plans to set up a program specifically for Iraqis.
Immigration Minister Diane Finley has declined to be interviewed on the matter, but a spokesperson for her office indicated Canada is expecting "additional" referrals from the UNHCR this year. None have materialized so far, however.
Last year, only 177 Iraqi claims of refugee status made it to Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board. Neighbouring Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, on the other hand, have been swamped with people fleeing the war.
Various community organizations have complained about the lack of official support, even though some measure of popular support support does exist and could be mobilized.
"The bottom line is that this crisis has far surpassed the ability of regional neighbours to cope," said Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada. "UN agencies are strained beyond capacity as well. And the wider response of the international community, including Canada, for a humanitarian crisis that was after all provoked by an international armed conflict, has been, to say the least, woefully and shamefully inadequate."
Elizabeth McWeeny, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, said Canadians are ready to sponsor more refugees.
"The Canadian people have always played an important role in Canada's response to refugees," she said, "and we are here today to tell you that we are receiving a strong message from the grassroots about the strong desire of Canadians in many parts of Canada to contribute to a generous response to Iraqi refugees."
I guess that Canadians and the rest of the world really have become that deadened to the sufferings of the wider world. The boat people were lucky, the Iraqis, eh, at least they made good video back when people cared.
