As to complaints about going off topic: let's be frank, this topic is one of many for whining about how long the process is taking DESPITE the overwhelming evidence that processing times are well within what is to be EXPECTED, especially given the surge in applications which need processing. For anyone who applied after October 11, 2017, other than whimpering narcissistic impatience there is NOTHING much to talk about relative to the timeline
UNTIL 2019. I recognize some venting can be therapeutic, but the WLB routine hardly warrants adherence to staying on that topic.
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It can be telling how much weight is given the adjective "illegal" depending on who is targeted. Overtime parking is "illegal." Driving 5 km over the speed limit is "illegal." And murder is "illegal." Not everything that is illegal is a crime. Not all crimes are equally bad. Describing the specific manner in which a person seeking refuge as "illegal" illuminates virtually NOTHING about the merits of their case. It does, however, reveal the meanness and incivility of those who knowingly employ this label to unfairly disparage the disadvantaged.
Sure, those who have committed murder or are engaging in fraud in their endeavor to settle in Canada, or other serious crimes along the way, the government needs to, and I am confident it does, pursue interdiction and prosecution and deportation for those individuals.
In contrast, those who are crossing the border on foot, carrying all their worldly possessions in their hands, and do so in a way the biased are all too happy to label "illegally," are promptly interdicted and processed, AS INTENDED, at which time they can LEGALLY make a claim for asylum. And, with some exceptions unfortunately, they can trust Canada to appropriately, reasonably with due process, adjudicate their claim and make a judicious determination. Labeling this "illegal" is no more than a blatant effort to malign, to disproportionately denigrate a class of people who are struggling, most desperately so.
Beyond that, many, many, if not most refugees, come to Canada through well-established procedures, no hint of illegality.
Many, many other FNs manage to find a LEGAL way to come to Canada and then make an asylum claim once they are in Canada. They may have manipulated the rules some, but there is no illegality as such.
Unless there is fraud, but then that is about persons engaging in fraud not about refugees, and most indicators suggest
there is far more fraud in the family and skilled worker class of immigration, more than a few of the latter coming from the relatively privileged abroad and gaming the system to buy into Canadian privilege as well. So here too, let's be frank, when someone paints refugee issues as laden with fraud, that is disingenuous. Fraud is fraud. And, again, most signs indicate there is more fraud among other classes of immigration . . . just any casual perusing of IAD decisions about misrepresentation amply illustrates this. Note for example, the crooked consultant in the media recently, more than a thousand of his former clients are targeted for fraud (facing loss of PR status, some facing revocation of citizenship), with HUNDREDS who have already lost status due to fraud. THESE WERE NOT REFUGEES; THESE WERE NOT ASYLUM CASES. They were, however, deliberate efforts to defraud the Canadian immigration system.
The effort to paint endeavors to accommodate and process those applying for asylum in Canada as steeped in "illegals" is simply disgusting defamation.
Otherwise, sure, there are more than a few slipping into Canada and into the general population, largely to stay, most arriving legally but then overstaying. Historically these were referred to, in one fashion or another (actual terms varied), as undocumented migrants. Undocumented migration has been prevalent the world over for a very, very long time. Common to people under extreme pressures. Then a few decades ago the Americans began labeling them "illegals" and this label has migrated into the lexicon of other countries as well, including among some Canadians.
BUT make no mistake, this label is a disparaging epithet deliberately intended to sling aspersions. It has a tiny foothold based on the technicalities, because the undocumented migrant is typically involved in some activity which is technically contrary to law, comparable to remodeling one's kitchen without a building permit, so the label "illegal" is not entirely a false smear. Not necessarily a crime. An undocumented Foreign National working "illegally" in Canada, for example, is not committing a crime by doing so. Not even an infraction. It is not as serious as speeding.
This is not to condone engaging in any activity contrary to Canada's immigration laws.
Compliance with the law is to be encouraged. But let's not be coy about insinuation-laden labels which disproportionately disparage people and are used precisely for that purpose, not to advance any dialogue about how the immigration system does work or should work, but to slur a class of people, and in this instance to slur those who are in difficult and disadvantaged circumstances . . . and it is mean-spirited derision even in reference to those who do not have asylum claims which will satisfy Canada's requirements and thus will eventually be compelled to leave Canada.
