I find it very caring and honourable that Canada is stepping up to the plate in its commitment to take up to 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year, and 25,000 overall.
What I find confusing, is the double standard of showing preference to these people, over our own population.
On any given day in Canada, there are 235,000 homeless people roaming our streets, including many, right here in the Fraser Valley.
Why is it, all of a sudden to show this visual display of open kindness, to this despaired foreign population, while we continue to neglect our own despaired people.
Are the lives of our mentally ill, drug addicted, homeless, and those with other chronic health issues, less important, than those who have at least the energy to paddle a raft across the Mediterranean?
I can’t help but think, that maybe, the optics of aiding a population that makes the headlines in our news media’s, have become more important because of political observation and intimidation, rather than helping out those in dire straits, who are apart of our own Canadian family.
I believe this is because that our homeless were circumstanced into a situation, that many of us cannot make sense of, or don’t understand. While, the Syrian refugees, create an opportunity for our politicians to change the focus from their policy miscalculations, to our heart strings.
Art Green, Hope
