Appeal to Members of Parliament

Re: Loss of Control of Canada's Borders Dear Member of Parliament:

I trust that you will agree that a basic mark of a nation's sovereignty is its ability to control its own borders. Recent events suggest that Canada has lost effective control of its borders.

Consider the following scandals:

• On July 11, two heroin smugglers received terms of 20 years in prison in absentia in Vancouver. They had skipped out on ridiculously low $50,000 bail. The two were Hong Chiang Ho and Ming Pui Sam.The sentencing judge called the two "terrorists" The Globe and Mail (July 12, 1997) reported: "Mr. Ho is a landed immigrant who came to Canada as a refugee from China in 1989. Mr. Sum has been a refugee claimant from China since 1991." Questions: Who checked Hong Chiang Ho for a criminal record prior to his being accepted as a "refugee"? What did this criminal record check show? Is such information adequate to protect Canadians? As for Mr. Sum, he demonstrates the folly of permitting a person to make a refugee claim from within Canada. He had six years to pursue a criminal career while pursuing his "refugee" claim.
• Hundreds of Gypsies have poured into Canada following a Czech television show portraying Canada as a generous and easy touch. George Kubes a Toronto lawyer extolled the benefits of Canada. In a seeming conflict of interest, Kubes represents 50 Gypsy families and, of course, has his fees paid by legal aid; that is, the taxpayers. The resulting influx of "refugee" claimants taxed Toronto's emergency housing to the breaking point. Native born Canadians in urgent need of shelter found themselves disadvantaged by the flood of newcomers. The patent absurdity of the Gypsy claims can be seen from the fact that they chose not to apply for refugee status at the Canadian Embassy in Prague, but chose, instead, to apply after coming here, knowing that they could claim welfare, legal aid, and medicare. The right to fly into Canada and designate oneself a "refugee" and to become immediately a burden on the Canadian taxpayer is a signal weakness of the present system. Shouldn't the present laws be amended to require all refugee claimants to apply abroad and to be assessed abroad?
• On September 10, in Toronto, "police arrested 35 illegal immigrants ... in a massive crackdown on organized prostitution. ... Among those arrested was a woman police claimed is the leader of a gang that brought illegal immigrants to Canada from Asia to work as prostitutes." (Toronto Star, September 11, 1997) How did these illegals gain entry to Canada?

I urge you to press for answers to these questions in the new session of Parliament. I urge you to work to secure our borders and to put Canada and Canadians first, by protecting us from criminals and those who would come to exploit the benefits we offer.