Not only Universities, but also Canadian Law Societies ignore reality, refuse facts and plot to get innocent Canadians maimed and murdered by muslims, all to prove they're "not hateful racists!"
From the Ottawa Citizen, Tuesday February 7, 2017, P.# A7:
UNIVERSITIES HAVE THE RIGHT IDEA TO TRIP UP TRUMP
By Toddler Dawson
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 06: Ammar Aquel Mohammed Aziz (C), escorted by members of his family already living in the United States, arrives from Yemen at Dulles International airport on February 6, 2017 in Washington, DC. Aziz and his brother Tareq were prohibited from entering the U.S. a week ago due to tightened immigration policies established by the Trump administration, but were able to travel freely this week following a court injunction halting the implementation of the immigration policy. Some of Canada's universities are exploring how to help those affected.
It’s a nice thing, the kindness of strangers.
In the immediate aftermath of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days and halting refugee admission for 120 days, with an indefinite suspension on Syrian refugees, there were – rightly – calls for Canada to step up and do something.
At a press conference a couple of Sundays back, the federal government announced it wasn’t going to do much of anything, beyond giving temporary residence permits to anyone who ended up stranded in Canada. Then last Tuesday, there was an emergency debate in the House of Commons, where, again, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government committed to nothing. Sure, the bromides were there, but it was clear that the Canadian government wasn’t going to help – an understandable diplomatic choice, if almost certainly the wrong one.
Enter the universities, some of which are looking for ways they can either attract students from the seven nations on the travel ban list, or see what the universities can do to help. In particular, the University of Ottawa has offered to waive tuition for students from these countries who had planned to go to the United States; as of Monday, 80 students had reached out to Ottawa. Presumably, more will. Of course, this is all easier said than done. There are matters of whether or not the right programming or supervisors are available. The school has also invited faculty who were planning to go to the United States to come to Ottawa instead.
Memorial University in Newfoundland and the University of Alberta in Edmonton are waiving application fees for international students and the University of British Columbia has struck a committee to figure out what it can do to help. South of the border, universities have cautioned faculty and students to avoid international travel if they’re put at risk.
Over the weekend, law students from 22 universities contributed research time on the Safe Third Country Agreement, a deal between Canada and the U.S. that presumes our neighbour is safe for refugees. There have been calls for Canada to bail from it, arguing the U.S. isn’t a safe country, and the students were devising legal arguments on that. Universities Canada has also slammed the ban, urging its repeal, and the Canadian Association of University Teachers issued a statement saying “the ban runs contrary to the values of free and open exchange of knowledge and ideas.”
So far, so good.
Some of this may be wholly opportunistic. Why, after all, shouldn’t Canada take this moment to try to attract the best and the brightest, a brain gain from the United States, for once? Yet it’s crass, especially since it would be ethically right to help those specifically affected by the ban regardless of the benefit to Ottawa or Canada. A brain gain, widely speaking, is one thing; thinking of refugees and immigrants in terms of some sort of nebulous worth to Canada is gross. (This is the case, incidentally, with Canada’s immigration policy more generally. Why should we want only the neurosurgeons? Why should the opportunities afforded by living in Canada be more available only to a certain demographic or those with a certain skill set?)
So, assuming these decisions aren’t motivated by such opportunism – and even if they are – institutions are doing precisely what they ought to: stepping up and filling a moral and practical vacuum that the government has created.
When all’s said and done, there isn’t very much Canada alone can accomplish on the travel ban.
So, to heck with the government. We have civil society and as it steps up, we can all be proud of that.
Tyler Dawson is deputy editorial pages editor of the Ottawa Citizen.
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