I spent the whole evening crafting a letter that probably no one will read.
Where do we have a voice?
When is the voice of reason going to be heard?
When are compassion, empathy, caring, respect going to be considered more important that personal gain, protecting our material stuff, and fear that if we care for others there will be less for us?
I want a country that will stand up for human rights and not be afraid of the economic or social consequences. Because that is how we are taught to be with bullies. We have friends that will be there if we do and it will give others the courage to stand up too.
This is Leadership!!! Why does no one in government see it/ or more importantly act on it??? If all they care about is being re elected there is going to be no country left to re elect them and they will be merely puppets of the USA. Who's population needs us to be strong and stand up as well! Oh my goodness this is crazy
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,
There are so many good things we as a country are doing for refugees and suffering people! But our immigration and refugee policies, anti Islamophobia movement, taking in new people and all of our compassion and integrity are at risk of being moot if we do not take action and rescind the "Safe Third Country Agreement" now!
We cannot win against a bully by appeasement that sacrifices values. Canadians need a stand NOW! Otherwise we will divide ourselves and eat ourselves up over the little battles. The longer it takes to make that stand the more divisive it will be for us, and this is your governments responsibility. It will need to happen, please let us be strong enough to be proactive and not wait until we have no choice.
This is about basic human dignity and respect. This is about being a person with a heart and soul. It is not about politics or economics but about the world our children are going to have to live in. Standard of living means nothing if we do it on the backs of the suffering people that we pretend are not our responsibility.
We have an opportunity to stand up and be the Canada that we as Canadians, along with the rest of the world, believed us to be. This is more important than short term economics and politics. This goes beyond all the what ifs and its not been proven yets... This is the basic right of all people to live without fear of persecution.
People are suffering and we can do something! Is this not an opportunity to be the country we say we are? Are we going to be the complicit silent neighbour?? That will not be respected ever and once this regime is over will show us as fickle, manipulated hypocrites. It would be easier to be Mexico right now.
I will be hiding my Canadian flag when I travel if we continue to support US as a "Safe Third Country" until their current policies are rescinded. (If travel is safe at all in the future as a 'only look after ourselves' means we cannot expect others to respect or protect our rights and freedoms when we step off our soil)
This is of the most urgent nature, we are a last bastion of hope for desperate people and if we can only find a way to get past our fear and open our doors then it sends the message to other people that there is another way. Sweden and the few other countries that are opening doors need us to stand up! The fence sitters and everyone else who feels their voice is not heard needs us to stand up.
To do nothing is to support to the current Republican government's views on equal rights.
