New Canadians have no time for illegal immigration according to a new comprehensive study conducted by Ipsos-Reid for the federal government.
The annual report, commissioned by the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and uncovered by the investigative news outlet Blacklock’s Reporter, showed the clear frustration newcomers have watching others break Canada’s immigration laws.
“Newcomers to Canada resent illegal immigrants for jumping what they view as an immigration queue,” states the Blacklock’s report. “There was an underlying sense of unfairness.”
These findings were based on surveys of more than 4,000 newcomers across Canada, as well as 14 different focus groups in Toronto, Mississauga, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Moncton that included Chinese, Filipino, Middle Eastern, Caribbean and African immigrants.
“Apparently, there’s a loophole in the system where they can cross and just put in their papers,” one focus group participant told the researchers. “It angered me. Everybody is just coming in,” said another.
“Your English has to be good, you do all these tests, your health has to be good, then you land in Canada and find people here who don’t speak English and you wonder, are there double standards?”
Sadly, there are double standards.
Canada has received 43,278 asylum claims so far in 2019, and 148,703 in the past three years, including 52,097 illegal border crossings.
The Parliamentary Budget Office pegs the cost of processing these claims at $1.1 billion, plus another $371 million paid out to the provinces to help house these migrants. On top of this, provincial governments provide asylum seekers with gold-plated social services, including dental care and prescription drug plans, and many city governments shell out even more on housing.
There is no doubt that those who come to Canada illegally receive special treatment not afforded to newcomers who come to Canada legally.
“We worked really hard to get here and there was no support and no help,” one newcomer told researchers.
“Canada should turn these individuals back,” said a focus group participate. “They lie to the Canadian government,” said another.
It makes sense that newcomers resent those who come illegally.
Those who work hard, play by the rules and came to Canada the right way understand the value of Canadian citizenship. Seeing others disrespect the rule of law to avoid making the same sacrifices is understandably frustrating.
These findings fly in the face of the Liberal narrative that it is racist to oppose illegal immigration. For years now, the Trudeau government and their supporters in the media have denied that crossing the border illegally amounts to “queue-jumping” and denied the existence of a “loophole.”
They insist that opposition to illegal border crossing amounts to bigotry.
As Trudeau’s immigration minister Ahmed Hussen said of those who criticize his government’s handling of the border, specifically of Ontario Cabinet Minister Lisa MacLeod, “it’s divisive, it’s fear-mongering, it’s not Canadian, and it’s very dangerous.”
Well, it turns out that legal immigrants are not buying what Team Trudeau is selling.
Canadians of all backgrounds, it seems, are united in their frustration over illegal immigration. It’s time Trudeau stopped rolling out the red carpet for illegal border crossers, and started enforcing Canada’s border laws.
Malcolm is the author of the new book NO BORDER: Justin Trudeau’s Assault on Canadian Border Security, available at Amazon.ca
