August 24, 1999 | Financial Post


           Illegal aliens should be sent back

Nothing 'racist' in upholding the law or protecting borders

   Diane Francis
   Financial Post

The two boatloads of illegal aliens from China should all be sent back
immediately. That's what 90% of Canadians want. But you wouldn't know it
so Ottawa keeps stonewalling.

This underscores this country's biggest flaw. Canadians are
pathologically polite, and anyone who criticizes immigrants or refugees,
or the policies and process in place, is labelled a "racist" by vested
interests.

Such a label is totally inaccurate. I believe illegal aliens from
anywhere should be sent back. They are not welcome unless they are
invited or are bona fide refugees fleeing war and living in a refugee
camp.

Canadians agree with this view but most media comment does not. Take,
for instance, the insipid, increasingly irrelevant CBC. On this and
other issues, its coverage is about as reflective of the national
conversation as is Howard Stern's.

But it's not on the political radar screen even though the issues are
the subject around office water coolers, in bars and around dinner
tables. Very few go public with their views and when they do they pay a
price.

Take the recent experiences of a small group of concerned Canadians who
call themselves the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee.

This group agrees with me that the entire immigration/refugee system is
a boondoggle. So they have decided to lobby on behalf of the silent
majority by opening an Internet site. They want to gain support for a
national petition which calls for Parliament to invoke the
"notwithstanding clause" to overturn judicial decisions (by unelected
justices) that have made it impossible to secure Canada's borders. (For
those interested, e-mail the group at cfirc@canadafirst.net.)

What recently happened to its director, Paul Fromm, is typical of what
happens when a Canadian takes a stance against immigration/refugee
practices.

After appearing on a radio show in Victoria, Mr. Fromm was treated badly
by reporters.

"Several reporters distinguished themselves by the stupidity and
hostility of their questions. One demanded to know how Mr. Fromm would
respond to the charge that CFIRC was racist. He retorted: "How is it
racist to insist that would-be immigrants or refugees apply through
proper channels and obey the law."

Another reporter snarkily insisted that CFIRC would have more
credibility if there had been visible minorities there. "Majority
Canadians certainly had a right to stand for their point of view during
a virtual invasion of their country," wrote Mr. Fromm in recent
correspondence.

The point is that Canada is a tribe and tribes shun those who think
alternatively. This is the root of the country's political correctness
problem. Worse yet, this social malady impedes democracy because it
stifles debate, thus entrenching the status quo and the establishment.

It is also why Canada cannot get fixed, even though immigration and
refugee policies are demonstrably damaging, even dangerous, in my
opinion.

This is why Canadians are upset. 

In the mid-1980s the Tories plucked a figure out of the air and decided
that we needed at least 200,000 immigrants a year. Since then we have
let a couple of million people into our society. No one has justified,
or monitored this. These entrants have not been properly screened by an
overworked and disorganized bureaucracy, with the result that we have
imported terrorists, people with grave illnesses, a criminal class and
an undeserved overhead supporting distant, unproductive relatives.

It costs taxpayers billions a year to take care of the health care needs
alone of the tens of thousands of elderly "sponsored" relatives allowed
in. When applied to people like me, the policy's foolishness is obvious:
I could, for instance, "sponsor" a couple of dozen American relatives
who are all well-off in order to gain access for them to bargain-rate
health care here. That's just plain unfair to my fellow Canadians, and
even the Liberals would have to admit that.

And yet when applied to a taxi-cab driver from Somalia or Guatemala, the
policy is assumed correct. Truth is, people who think what's good for
the Somalian is not good for the American are the racists. Facts are, it
is just as foolish to bring in his relatives as it would be to bring in
mine.

Similarly, it is not racist to enforce borders. It's racist to insist
that anyone of colour can intrude on our society at will because they
have superior rights.

For those who agree with me, remember it is not racist to prevent
undesirables from entering our country.

It is not racist to question how many people should be allowed in here. 

It is not racist to want our government to uphold the laws of the land. 

It is not racist to deport criminals and their families. 

It is not racist to prosecute fraudsters, including those who hire
smugglers to get them in here. The Chinese who have arrived are
accessories to a crime and should be punished, not given roomservice and
lawyers.

It is not racist to insist that anyone who comes here speak English or
French.

It is not racist to insist that sponsors pay for all the entitlements
their sponsorees need -- from health, education to housing or welfare --
until the arrivals have contributed to the tax base.

It is not racist to send those sponsored relatives back if sponsors
cannot fully support them.

Put another way, Canada is our home. No one can force us to invite
someone to supper if we don't like them, can't afford to feed them,
can't communicate with them or they don't know how to behave.

It's really that simple and has nothing to do with bigotry.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Diane Francis can be reached by e-mail at dfrancis@nationalpost.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to submit a letter to the editor for publication, send
to fpletters@nationalpost.com. Please include a daytime telephone number
for verification.


                            -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

                              Marc Lemire
        152 Carlton Street, Suite 545, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 2K1


To: National Post/Financial Post
Fax: (416) 383-2443
E-Mail: fpletters@nationalpost.com

                                                      August 24, 1999

                         Letter to the Editor

Dear Financial Post;

RE: Article by Diane Francis, "Illegal aliens should be sent back" in
August 24 issue of National Post.

Finally a reporter like Diane Francis has hit the nail square on the
head. She said "It is not racist to prosecute fraudsters, including
those who hire smugglers to get them in here. The Chinese who have
arrived are accessories to a crime and should be punished, not given
roomservice and lawyers."

Finally someone says it!  The Chinese Illegals are just as guilty as the
"snakeheads" who brought them here!

Diane Francis also mentioned the "irrelevant CBC" in her piece.  The CBC
for the past month has had a never ending snore fest about the Chinese
Illegals. Everything from how they made their first phone call when they
got released, to when they were shopping in downtown Victoria, to how
people were “nice” to them on the Ferry from Victoria to Vancouver.

CBC's reporting on immigration stories is always slanted. Their idea of
a fair panel on immigration, is the NDP's immigration critic,  two
immigration Lawyers and a member from the liberal government. It's just
the immigration industry arguing with the immigration industry.


                                              -Marc Lemire
                                               Toronto, Ontario

                            -=-=-=-=-=-=-

Diane Francis / FAX: 1(416) 947-2209
The Financial Post, Toronto

RE: Illegal aliens should be sent back (August 25, FP)

Dear Ms. Francis,

I note that the subheader to your column of yesterday reads: "Nothing
'racist' in upholding the law or protecting borders."

Here in Canada, when anyone has the temerity to discuss a burning issue
(immigration, free speech, gun control) the first thing he must do is put
on a hat: A white hat if he's PC in his views; a black one (mustache
is optional) if he's not.  The second thing that happens is the non-PCer
gets busy explaining why he's no bigot. So most Canadians give up or wimp
out, and stay away from any debate of this sort.

The fact is, your media brethren have spent decades making Canada a very
inhospitable place for people whose opinions stray from the PC catechism.
And "stray" is what you did yesterday, when (in a sense) you went to bat
for Immigration Canada critic Paul Fromm.

Paul's the boy who had the temerity to say the Emperor (read: "our"
immigration department) has got no clothes. I am unsure what happened to
the boy in the Grimms fairy-tale, but were the story set in Canada the
king's courtiers would immediately kick-start a vicious disinformation
campaign to discredit the boy--with most royal subjects going along to get
along; given that they "don't want any trouble."

Meanwhile, I fully expect that Paul will either be keegstrafied or
zundelized--or both; and, I would not be at all surprised to glimpse a
somewhat downcast Diane Francis sidelined as a nails-and-hammer wielding
mob of keegstrafiers and zundelizers again crucificies him in effigy.

"In a time of universal deceit," George Orwell once wrote, "telling the
truth is a revolutionary act."  And here reactionaries rule. As I write, I
can already hear the strident clip-clop of their jackboots.

Sincerely yours,

Orest Slepokura, Alberta

      -=-=-=-=- SOL LITTMAN SAYS HIS PEICE -=-=-=-=-

http://www.nationalpost.com/network.asp?f=990828/Letters

Unholy alliance | Sol Littman

Letters | National Post (letters@nationalpost.com) | August 28, 1999

Re: Illegal Aliens Should be Sent Back, Aug. 24.

Diane Francis ends her diatribe on immigration and immigrants with the
self-serving comment: "It's really that simple and has nothing to do with
bigotry."

Unfortunately, it's not that simple and has a great deal to do with
bigotry. Take her unfortunate alliance with Paul Fromm and his "Canada
First Immigration Reform Committee." No one in Canada has a clearer record
of unvarnished bigotry than Mr. Fromm in his various incarnations. Mr.
Fromm was still in college when he invented the ultra-conservative Edmund
Burke Society. When that didn't go well, he joined the openly fascist,
swastika-sporting Western Guard.

Realizing that openly fascist groups won little consideration from
Canadians, Mr.
Fromm invented a series of front groups with seemingly respectable names
such as Canadian Association for Free Expression and "Foreign Aid Reform."
Despite their bland titles, all of them sought to exploit the anxiety some
Canadians feel about immigration. He has fought mightily for the right to
free expression for Holocaust-deniers such as Ernst Zundel and racists such
as James Keegstra.

In the presence of a gang of young skinheads he shouted "Scalp 'em!" at
native leader A. R. Bobiwash during a meeting at Toronto's city hall. He
was removed as a teacher by the Peel Board of Education because of his
repeated appearances at racist rallies and memorials.

None of this can be shrugged off with the claim that Mr. Fromm is being
punished for a lack of "political correctness." Nor can he claim that he is
being unfairly labelled a racist.

As for Ms. Francis, her insistence that anyone who arrives in Canada
uninvited should be sent back automatically without a hearing or a chance
to prove their worthiness, is dangerously wrong. We look back in scorn at
those Swiss officials who shouted, "The lifeboat is full" and refused entry
to Jews fleeing Hitler. We look back with shame at our refusal to allow the
passengers of the ship St. Louis to find shelter in Canada. On the other
hand, we look back with pride at our rescue of thousands of Vietnamese from
the refugee camps of South Asia.

Let's be honest. Canada does not admit immigrants because of our greatness
of heart. We invite them to settle here because we need them. We recruited
peasants from eastern Europe because we needed them to work our farms,
mines and lumber mills. We invite Chinese because we benefit from their
entrepreneurship and scientific scholarship.

Ms. Francis has taken a dangerous course in trying to buttress her argument by
identifying with a man with a dubious ideology. One cannot help but remind
her of the old saying, "Birds of a feather flock together." Which way are
you flying, Ms. Francis?

Sol Littman, Canadian representative, Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Toronto. 

                      -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sept.1 1999               Letter to the Editor

Dear Sir:

        Sol Littman's attack on Diane Francis and myself is sadly typical of the
name calling and guilt by association that for far too long have stifled
intelligent debate about immigration in this country. Cries of "racist" or
"fascist" have all too often passed for arguments to silence all but the
bravest.

        Just to set the record straight. Yes, in the late 1960s, I was a founder
of the Edmund Burke Society. I proudly plead guilty. We were able to learn
from older people of various races who'd had terrible experiences with
communism. Thus, while many of my contemporaries were idolizing Mao and
Castro and Ho Chi Minh, we were urging strong opposition to communism. We
popularized one of Burke's sterling insights into human behaviour: "The
only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

        As for the "swastika-sporting" Western Guard, I was never a member.
Indeed, when the Edmund Burke Society ceased to exist and split into a
number of new entities, I publicly disassociated myself from those who went
in the Western Guard direction.

        Moving on to my later political activities, Mr. Littman seems to find
support for freedom of speech a subtle form of "fascism." As a person who
has boasted of his success in driving political opponents off Canadian web
service providers, Littman may be a poor judge of the meaning of freedom of
speech. However, while the Canadian Association for Free Expression has
supported the rights to free speech of Ernst Zundel and Malcolm Ross, we
have also supported the metric rebels, including Jack Halpert who happened
to be Jewish, and the right of adult Canadians to read the literature of
their choice without censorship by Canada Customs. In that regard, we've
publicly defended Vancouver's Little Sisters Bookstore during their
outrageous ordeal of harassment by Canada Customs. The last time I
consulted a popular history book, freedom of speech wasn't a very prominent
feature of fascist societies.

        Indeed, two years ago I was dismissed by the Peel Board of Education after
a 24-year teaching career. Ironically, one of the accusations made against
me was that I had organized a free speech conference in Vancouver, keynoted
by the late Pat Burns who brought talk radio to that city. My activities, I
was told, showed "persistant disregard for multiculturalism and
ethnocultural equity" which were "core values of the education system."
This dismissal is the subject of an arbitration grievance brought by my union.


                        Sincerely yours,



                        Paul Fromm
                        Director
                        Canada First Immigration Reform Committee 

                            -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

           Take a moment to send an e-mail to Elinor Caplan -
            Quick! Before the immigration lawyers take over

                          Caplan.E@parl.gc.ca


      -=-=-=-  CANADA FIRST IMMIGRATION REFORM COMMITTEE  -=-=-=-

CFIRC goes 3,000 miles to protest against Illegial Immigration in
British Columbia!  Read the whole story and find out the truth about the
silent invasion going on in BC! .

      http://www.canadafirst.net/news/victoria_protest/index.html


                               -=-=-=-=-

     W H O S E    C O U N T R Y    I S    T H I S    A N Y W A Y ?
        

                  GET INVOLVED NOW!  SIGN OUR PETITION
               AGAINST THESE TYPES OF IMMIGRATION ABUSES
                http://www.canadafirst.net/scoc-petition


           TAKE OUR IMMIGRATION POLL!  GIVE US YOUR THOUGHTS!
       http://www.canadafirst.net/cgi-bin/poll/robpoll.cgi?start