As Osoyoos gets ready to welcome a refugee family from war-torn Syria, the same scene is being repeated in hundreds of communities across Canada.
When newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was campaigning for the October election, he pledged to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada before the end of the year.
That promise clearly underestimated the logistical hurdles, and the deadline was extended, but now the first planeloads of refugees are arriving at airports in Toronto and Montreal for onward travel to many communities like Osoyoos.
Local residents have been extremely generous, helping the Osoyoos Refugee Project to raise close to its target of $30,000 to help the family settle here.
That spirit of generosity and welcome is playing out elsewhere as images of reunited families and refugees grateful to be on safe soil flash across our television screens.
Indeed, Canada’s bold move to welcome such a large number of families in need and in such a short time has been reported in media throughout the world where Canada is held up as an example.
Contrast this with the United States where dozens of governors have declared that they don’t want any refugees coming to their states.
And where Republican Party presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is now calling for the exclusion of all Muslims from entering the United States and mandatory registration of those already there. His ranting only supports ISIS’s claim that the West is at war with Islam.
Canadians should not be too smug though when looking at Canada’s generosity and comparing it with the political demagoguery and xenophobia elsewhere.
It was not too long ago that another Canadian Prime Minister tried to whip up fear and hysteria about women wearing niqabs, promising “barbaric cultural practices” snitch lines to appeal to the same demographic that is supporting Trump.
There is no logical connection between refugees and terrorism. In recent incidents in the United States and France, the terrorists have been nationals of those countries or other European countries, and in many cases were born there.
When many refugees have been patiently waiting in squalid camps for months and even years, it makes no sense for terrorists to wait in those camps when they already have documents to get on the next plane anyway.
While some Canadians have succumbed to these irrational fears, most have not and have responded instead with goodwill and generosity.
Residents of Osoyoos, and indeed people across Canada, can be proud of this positive spirit.
