This appeared on my FB page today. Im convinced that after all this immigration , this is the way to go .


LOCAL MAYOR REFUSES TO REMOVE PORK FROM SCHOOL CANTEEN MENU AND EXPLAINS WHY.
Muslim parents have demanded the abolition of pork in all the school
canteens of a Montreal suburb. It seems it is offensive to the Muslim
families and shows much disrespect.
The mayor of the Montreal suburb of Dorval, has refused, and the town
clerk sent a note to all parents in the municipality to explain why.

The following is what the note stated:


“Muslims must understand that they have to adapt to Canada and
Quebec, its customs, its traditions, its way of life, because that is
where they chose to immigrate. They must understand that they have to
integrate and learn to live in Quebec. They must understand that it is
for them to change their lifestyle, not the Canadians who so
generously welcomed them.”
“They must understand that Canadians are neither racist nor
xenophobic, they accepted many immigrants before Muslims (Whereas the
reverse is not true, in that ALL Muslim states do not accept
non-Muslim immigrants.).
“They must also understand that, no more than other nations, Canadians
are not willing to give up their identity nor their culture. And if
Canada is a land of welcome, it is not just the Mayor of Dorval who
welcomes foreigners, but the Canadian-Quebecois people as a whole. “
“Finally, they must understand that in Canada (Quebec) with its
Judeo-Christian roots, Christmas trees, churches and religious
festivals, religion must remain in the private domain. Therefore, the
municipality of Dorval was right to refuse any concessions to Islam
and Sharia.”
“For Muslims who disagree with secularism and do not feel comfortable
in Canada, there are 57 beautiful Muslim countries in the world, most
of them under-populated and ready to receive them with open arms
in accordance with Shariah law. If you left your country for Canada,
and not for other Muslim countries, it is because you have considered
that life is better in Canada than elsewhere. So, ask yourself the
question, just once, “Why is it better here in Canada than where you
come from?”
“A canteen with pork is part of the answer.”

Brilliant response! Think there are lesson to be learnt and questions asked as to why those other beautiful sparsely populated Muslim countries have not stepped up with regards to the European refugee crisis! I would hazard a guess ..they don't want to help when Sharia Law clearly states if a Muslim brother or sister is in need it is their duty to offer assistance! Their silence and averted gaze speaks volumes! Although it should also be noted that not all refugees are Muslim...and neither are all terrorists!
We need to fined solutions that do not include bombs or mass exodus!...

I'm with the Mayor on this, he's had the guts to say what most people are thinking...

Brilliant reply - I think the politicians in charge of our country should read, digest and follow.

I'm with this too, good on the mayor

Well said sir.

Hmmm. Just media bollocks.

And its Canada.

I work with Wirral Change and no Muslims are calling for a Bacon Ban- stupidity at its best. #propoganda

These are peaceful, hardworking, family orientated people villified by the media.

'They keep themselves to themselves' some people on here say 'its so scary, they must be making bombs ready for Christmas at Birkenhead. No, fascists- these people are so used to abuse from Muppet S*n, Mail, Express readers that they keep themselves to their selves.

[quote=RUDEBOX]Hmmm. Just media bollocks.

And its Canada.

I work with Wirral Change and no Muslims are calling for a Bacon Ban- stupidity at its best. #propoganda


That's great that those Muslims you know are perfectly content to not challenge our traditional food or whatever , but how does that make it boll*ks to write about a response made from the Mayor in an area where the Muslims ARE complaining? The principle would be the same , whatever the country ,surely?

(Or are you saying that you have certain knowledge that this report is a lie and the request for the removal of pork never happened ? )

I take on board your comment Rude You are correct , but I think the principle is still sound . Someone has obviously engineered the letter to make the point which I still think is a valid one.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/belgiumpork.asp

Er.....facebook copy and paste. X

Sound. No worries xx

The fit young men 'angle' makes me laugh too. Sooo many simps on here...,

Having lived through the Arab spring literally in the middle of it!...I am more than aware of what fit young men who are frustrated and don't understand anything other than their goal are capable of,and how quickly a quiet peaceful gathering can turn. Not a simp.... These young men could be anyone so caution is the watch word as far as I am concerned ..however others can and do have different opinions which I respect ... I do however think this situation will take years to find a solution...and that is frightening...

All of 'Arab Land' Really?

Oops!


http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/belgiumpork.asp

Was it one of those Muslims who keeps himself to himself describing a gift of spam as pig in a tin? such nice unassuming people who would throw a gift back in your face.

I have been reading a lot about the Muslim religion / culture and its applications, these words certainly caught my eye and I should imagine give concerns to many people:
Taqiyya this allows a Muslim to lie, he can deny his faith profess to be a Christian , Jew or any other religion, he can lie under oath, so long as he believes in his own heart that he is a true believer and follower of Allah, amazing a bit like confession but without the need for a priest in essence a do it your self confession.
Bacha Bazi: this allows the sexual abuse of young boys, two American soldiers were disciplined for stepping in to stop an afghan soldier abusing a boy he had tied to his bunk,
very worrying, so what happens when they arrive here? carte blanche to lie and abuse kids because its their culture, shades of Rotherham anything goes to keep the peace? it appears the Muslim religion is peppered with get out of jail clauses that enables them to live the life they wish without any consequences, still it must be the women who pay the price the ultimate whipping boy or girl in this case.

Bacha Bazi is nothing to do with Islam - its an Afghani slang term. Bacha Bazi is outlawed by everybody in Afghanistan and Islam, the American military can claim they could not get involved but because it is outside the scope of their rules of engagement, they are not there for general policing and have no authority to do so, an American civilian in Afghanistan has more powers in that respect than members of the military.

Taqiyya is not cart blanch to lie whenever a Muslim wishes, it is only used when self preservation is in danger. It is a realistic expectation, most humans lie when put in significant danger, its even not unheard of in Christian leaders.

Sensationalist media will have you believe otherwise, malicious rumours are not helping the stability of the world - in fact it pays the media to intentionally stir things up.

Well it appears to me there is too much ambiguity in the interpretation, the religion seems to follow two different paths, Jihad is interpreted differently by the different factions, so no doubt they have defined taqiyya to suit their own purpose, I am told Islam is a peaceful religion, so how is it justified to rape, murder and mutilate and attack other religions in its name? just asking because the proof is there for all to see, how is it that the so called moderates here don't stage protests to condemn the atrocities carried out in the name of their religion, were where the so called decent Muslims when the kids were being abused in Blackburn and Rotherham, the silence was deafening so much for integration.

Probably for the same reason that British born people do not tend to protest en masse about litterers/ thieves/ burglers/ dog turd leavers. offenders are a small minority of a community.
We,in the general, dislike these people and dis-associate.

I mean who would seriously protest: Imagine the chants? Ffs

'xxx ..., xx .... don't pick the poo up from their dogs bum'
- (But not me)

Likewise, minority communities. Why should they go out on a Saturday chanting 'I am Muslim, not a rapist (even though I was born in Rotherham '

Ridiculous. The majority will distance themselves.

It's like somebody who lives in Seacombe/ Rock Ferry/ North-End being labelled, say a thief just because they live in these areas. Ridiculous!!!!

You need to read the post again rude, the protest part was about the atrocities in Afghanistan, the decent Muslim part was about not reporting the child abuse. it must have been common knowledge in the taxi firms and eateries because it was so widespread and people gossip, you would therefore think that another responsible parent would see the wrong and report it, or even try to stop it, unless of course you think it might not have been worth it as it is only on par with litter and dogshit

Think, you have mis-interpreted my view too Casper. No worries...thats the internet for ya!

You don't have to look far to find out the Christianity is interpreted differently, look at Northern Ireland.

The Muslims were in Blackburn and Rotherham, like you are in Wallasey, how much have you done to prevent child abuse in Wallasey? Why do you assume that Muslim's are the only ones that are aware of Muslim crimes?

I have more experience of the goings on in Oxford, its not just the Muslims that are aware, everybody is aware:- white, black, red, yellow, Christian, Muslim, atheist, police, councillors etc.

Casper is maybe trying to differentiate between cultures, rather than the religious aspect.
Many cultures with peculiar practices are from Muslim countries, and may not necessarily be practicing Islam but they are not allowed to 'drop out'.
We know that certain practices go against our own laws.
Let's not forget the practice of the ancient Greeks (and not so ancient) of having little boys. It still goes on even now.
Much the same as tribal laws continue in various Arab countries. Multiculturalism brings those practices with it and when Islam in this country is defended by those who despise anything to do with Christianity , it becomes more than confusing as much of the Quran relates to the Christian biblical teachings.
So we need to look at the different cultures and stop pussy footing about as we know we can get into trouble and accused of being racist if we talk about nationalities or black people, but somehow we can get away with religious attacks.If we don't stop doing that, there is likely to be massive blood shed as although Christian groups are open to being ridiculed, Muslim are definitely not and Jews who we cannot say a word against, go running to the head master.

Their own background has surely got to have impact, which is brought to this country and according to some we have to accept and be tolerant.

Be warned if people continue to have to use 'Muslim' as an excuse for tribalism it can be very offensive to sincere followers of Islam. Continued, stoning of women for not wearing bras, in some of these countries like Saudi Arabia , Syrian journalists who act against the government are tortured or, worse, end up dead.

The worse is by far Saudi Arabia, they claim that all laws within the country are taken straight from the Koran. In Saudi Arabia, Islam is the only recognized religion and if you bring material from another religion in, you are imprisoned. Also, Saudi Arabia refuses to recognize the religion of immigrants, and allows any non-Muslim within a certain distance of Mecca to be killed. Also, the worse place for a woman to live has to be Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to leave the house without some written permission from men. They are also not allowed to drive, not allowed to pass on nationality to their children, not allowed to testify, or have id they are listed under their husbands as essentially property. Finally, Saudi Arabia kills raped women, gays, sorcerers, and drug dealers.
Really since are foreign policy is based around supporting freedom and democracy we shouldn't even have relations with them, yet we call them an "ally". Iran on the other hand Iran is a democracy, a flawed but a better democracy than the nonexistent one in Saudi Arabia. .

Some things about Saudi that may surprise .....

2.5 million Syrians chose to go to Saudi.

Saudi Arabia is far from the only country that kills raped women, gays, sorcerers, and drug dealers.

Saudi women are much better educated than Saudi men.

Kaust in Saudi is not only mixed-gender (co-ed) university but also there are no dress restrictions on women.

There are municipal elections in Saudi, both men and women vote.

This year women will be allowed to be full members of the Shura council.

The average age for a woman to marry in Saudi is 25.

About a quarter of the people in Saudi are non-Saudi nationals.

Over half the population are under 25 years old.

The theme of your argument seems to be everyone else does it or has done it so it makes it alright, further to your comments on bacha bazi I read numerous different stories, yes to all intents and purposes it is outlawed, however the fact is it is rife well known and tolerated, one observer puts it down to the strict rules which don't allow the young male and female to shall we say get together and the older generation prefer their dancing boys to their wives, perhaps that is why there seems to be a preference for young and innocent in that particular culture, which has transferred itself over here.

DD, Saudi is a wonderful country for anyone who wishes to live there, is that what you wish to portray ?


It is strict in it's laws and the following of Islam. The Islamic Law is as it is interpreted by Islamic judges and not for the faint hearted, and pre-Islamic cultural traditions play a role. I imagine that is the 'sticky bit' which would have been, and obviously still is related to paganism.


....and they do kill raped women, gays, sorcerers, and drug dealers as well as other countries. Executions are pretty common place and in public too, including foreigners . No exceptions ! It rings of Henry VIII somehow, and foreigners are 8 times more likely to be executed than Saudi nationals. Not a place for a load of chaps from Birkenhead to go for a holiday !

Saudi Arabia is one of the only Muslim-majority countries that legally imposes a dress code (Iran is another). Women, foreign and local, must wear an abaya (a few get away with long coats) in public places.28 Jan 2015

The fact that KAUST does not insist on a dress code is possibly due to 60 different world wide nationals attending. Can't imagine the Chinese wearing abaya's, and why should they ? They would simply not go to that University.

Saudi claims to have given residency to 100,000 Syrians. They don't call it asylum and the Syrians don't like living in the camps. (we probably know why)
Can't imagine why Syrians would wish to leave one war torn country for another. According to UHCR's report there are only 500,000 Syrians living in Saudi .. so that's an interesting differential.

What is not a crime in Britain is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

Women are not allowed to mix with men who are unrelated. Maybe this is because half the population is under 25 and according to your facts as they marry at 25, probably keeping the virgins safe, whilst the men go out and exploit any western women who may be around and available, thus jeopardising their lives.

I think you are trying to play devil's advocate but this is not going to change the policy of Saudi Arabia. It's the birthplace of Islam, for goodness sake ! So stop being silly....DD

Yet again, this is a Kingdom we are talking about, far away from your ideology DD, so why so supportive of them ?

Tell it like it is granny, I do tend to mix the Muslim religion with culture, it just appears to me that the demarcation line is blurred between the two, and that the strict control of women and seeing them as belongings in these countries is the deep rooted problem, it appears unnatural to deny healthy relationships to the young, and of course the men go to other countries and see the European women as instead of outgoing and friendly as unchaste and easy, very dangerous for all concerned.

Further to your post DD,, I know of no paedophiles or child molesters in Wallasey, but if I did I would certainly make my suspicions known to the police, I am sure you are aware of the white van men hanging around girls schools in Wallasey one in particular near to me, I went for weeks to make sure my granddaughter ( or any other child) was safe, just in the background she didn't know, and I wouldn't embarrass her, because that's what we do.

They are all Arabs, different tribes but Arabs, my philosophy is never trust an Arab. Very few people can understand the Arab syche from a western point of view and when they do one blots out the understanding of the other.I as a male have more chance of being molested than a woman.Soap on a rope was invented for trips to The East. I know a lot of people will disagree, this is my point of view from experiance as permitted in a broken down western democracy.The two young boys Laurence of Arabia had polishing his stuff was a not so supple hint at what goes on and why he was accepted as one of their own.

Saudi is a different culture, loads of people I know have lived there and I almost went there myself.

The culture is not to everybody's taste.

I admire countries that have the death sentence for drug dealers/carriers and think it abhorrent that our government often tries to interfere with that process.

Britain has a dress code for men and women, parts of our bodies have to be covered, it doesn't even make any sense - a man's nipple is ok and a women's nipple has to be covered???? Different culture, different rules.

Try working the figures out for how many people have left Syria, taking into account that the net increase in population is about 400,000 a year due to births and deaths, there are millions that have left which would substantiate the Saudi claim to having 2.5 million there.

We have got more than enough problems in our own country, why do we criticise (and attack) other cultures so much? Saudi certainly hasn't got it right but neither have we - people in glass houses etc!

Britain and America are terrorist countries, we go about killing people in other countries without planning our objectives. No ISIS, no Kurds, no Assad its all about destruction not stability or constructive outcomes.

Britain is the epitome of a bigoted nation and getting worse and this attitude is going to backfire on us big time - we get involved in other countries' civil wars yet we would freak if another country did this to us, attacking other countries brings retribution and yet we still continue to do it, we are not only destabilising other countries, we are destabilising our own.

This is being driven by the Americans, we are gullibly following the path that leads to the New World Order taking us over.

Well put dusty straight to the point, I think Corporal Jones of Dads Army got it wrong when he said they don't like it up them like the soap on a rope one

Yes, agree with much of what you say about interference in other countries. There are times when other countries have made a call for help. Of course we all know the big one that was forced ,despite calls for non invasion and this now is the backlash (or part of it) .

Returning to different cultures, Brunei has taken up strict Islamic laws last year. They now amputate for theft and stoning for adultery. A form of control not religion. Yet another crank sitting in a place of supremacy.

This country has moved on since the Middle Ages, but as Dusty (I think) said, Arabs have tribal roots and these harsh laws maybe the only way to control. It takes decades to change, although from what I read Lebanon is becoming more westernised, and that will only happen if the powers that be drop some of the nasty Islamic laws. Not much hope for some of the other countries who are devout. Yemen is one but nobody can get out of there so easily, too dangerous so they are stuck with it and possibly wouldn't know how the other half live.
For those who have escaped to EU, it will be like a kid getting let loose in a candy shop. They may not even be able to manage our relaxed laws, and could feel lost and lonely. When people have been institutionalised we know how they can become mentally distressed once out. It could be the same for these migrants, they need time to adjust and then hopefully the majority will see more of what they like rather than what they don't like.
We can all hope for a happy ending, but it may be a long time .

I agree Granny, I think Saudi wants to change but doesn't know how to do it and it does need to be done very slowly.

We are far to liberal in many of our punishments, when you read of people with 45 previous convictions over hundreds of known offences I find it difficult not to wonder who has got punishment right and who has got it wrong.

Maybe the reason why we have been so liberal is because we have no prison places left.

26% of our prison population in 2013 were black, Asian or other ethnic minorities at the same time Muslim prisoners have doubled in the last ten years. We don't get definite figures do we ?; but those places are rife in bad things. So the justice system probably have the reasons why, more than we do.

What I do think is a huge shame about this EU migrant situation, it would appear that they are coming to fill the jobs in Germany for one, but is this another way of bringing in slave labour for many of them ? Wouldn't be called that but there are similarities and although they haven't been dragged, they have certainly been encouraged.

Just one thing. Apparently, the asylum seekers coming to UK cannot be taken in by families of homes with spare rooms. They will have to have their own front door, therefore a self contained unit. Even Bob Geldof has been knocked back.

The test will come for the government about the cost of support and the way it differs or may differ from the benefits on offer to others, should the refugees be entitled to higher benefits? who knows, where will they be housed, will they jump the queue? who knows, will they have to book on for jobseekers? there are already rumours circulating allegedly by people who have worked on properties saying they have been fitted with all mod cons etc etc, any advantages that may be on offer will be picked up and used to hit Cameron over the head with re the austerity, recent figures about the influx are suggesting about only a third of those entering Europe are Syrians and classed as true refugees, others from Pakistan, Nigeria and Turkey have been identified, big headaches for all are coming.

European countries could end up being littered with ghettos. These people will be living in poverty, unless they are handed out free houses and jobs. If they get these hand-outs, there could be local resentment and friction. If they are not, crime will be abundant.

I heard that some of the refugees coming here are to be settled in Knowsley. Has anybody heard where else?

I think any 'hand outs' as they are called , will not be coming directly from the public purse, in this country they are to be funded by money from the Overseas Budget. So if our people are helped to understand that it may be beneficial. Secondly, I do worry where they are placed, as they can't be given houses in residential housing estates due to the possible backlash and they need to be able to integrate.

I am quite sure that these refugees which come here are well vetted, won't be living off the state (as such) but they have to be helped. If we feel that such a small number are not worthy of being given assistance and removed from such a dire situation then we can't be worthy of calling our selves 'humanitarian'.

I think people in this country are panicking unnecessarily, Europe is a different ball game, and that is worrying !! To integrate, manage and house so many , all at once, is a challenge to say the least.

Tim Farron making his battle speech about our Government policy on the refugee crisis and how he obviously thinks the numbers should be far greater coming to this country, is just another one making his platform out of other peoples misery. How dare he !

Not heard about Knowsley Cools, but Liverpool have offered so it could be. I think everything will be ok for us and hopefully them. Who can deny little children a place of safety ? Europe/World went into meltdown after the image of the little boy on the beach. There are nearly 12,000 children been killed in this Syrian war apart from the injured and sick. Those are figures that cannot be denied.

I am not speaking on behalf of the economic migrants. They are different and make me angry. They should be no part of this humanitarian exodus.



Can't understand Hungary's take on this, particularly when there were 250,000 of their refugees who went to Austria when Hungary had their troubles a few decades ago. Poland another and Romania ( although, they are poor and they just come here instead.)

. Don't anyone find these too shocking for the forum, this is real life for many......and if pork is removed from the school menu, who f..ing cares ??

I'm really quite fond of pork.

So am I, and David Cameron loves it, I am surprised at grannys comment why should there be a need to remove pork from the school menu? they have alternatives to offer, some kids have allergies that need to be catered for, so there is no need to ban anything, there is always a solution, to start banning things causes problems and gives the perception that others needs are paramount and that they are better catered for, but I suspect that grannys comment was a bit tongue in cheek

I don't think its possible to vet refugees, most won't have passports/ID, we have no biological data agreement with these countries - they can just make a name and address up and use it.

Even EEC immigrants use false names in this country. I've seen a number of solicitor letters addressed to different names but it was clearly the same person.

Just to wind you all up a little . Click on link for interactive map of immigration. Quite scary and interesting , as are some of the comments at the bottom of the page. Can't see what timescale the map is relating to, it simply refers to 'over time', so that could be the propaganda part of it. Plus, it hasn't shown immigration from West Indies etc.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world...-of-migrants-flocking-to-Europe-each-day

The timescale refers to the bar at the top. Starts in 2012 up to August 2015 . Big difference

Not wound up, atall.You have linked The Express-would not wipe my arse on the Rag, never mind give them Advertising revenue. Not clicked, not read.

Ah ! So which one do you use to wipe your arse ?

4 rolls x 3 ply. £1.09 from HomeBargain.

4 at once ? Bloody hell!!

Lol

Another threat from Libya. Gadaffi wanted 4 billion off Europe to keep these illegal immigrants from being allowed to cross to Europe.

What should Europe do in this situation ?


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...t-recognise-new-Islamist-government.html

Yet again in the photos,mostly are all young males.
Its really out of control now.
Sweden is really in a terrible situation as they also saying that it is now over run by migrants.

We are not hearing much about this at the moment but the Greek/Macedonia border is struggling. Iranian migrants sewing their lips together as they are not being allowed across.

It's hard to even imagine how things are, all over these routes into Western Europe, but winter is coming and goodness knows how it is going to be resolved .

It would seem that Syrian, Afghans and Iraqis are being allowed to cross, others are being refused and threatened to be returned. How on earth can they turn back the little children ?

What I really don't understand is that one man (and probably many) has said he wants his freedom and will be killed if he returns to Iran, so why not take the offer of sanctuary in any European country instead of making so much fuss about being returned ?

Various reports via Reuters about them refusing food provided by the Red Cross as it's not halal, blocking the railway line, cutting themselves with razors, sewing lips, trying to commit suicide and calling the Macedonians police racists.

Could get ugly again. Desperate people and all that.....UN seems to have a policy of 'no co-operation' in certain places.

What a nightmare all round , but yes, they must have come through at least Turkey, so if things so desperate , why subject your little kids to going further when they could have registered there?

Canadian perspective.

n so, I’m not giving up on you…
I saw your post on Facebook. The one where you were trying to get people to sign the petition to “stop the immigration”.

Wow. How do I respond to this?

Well, I guess I can say that I’m kind of glad it was you who sent it. If it had been some stranger, I would have just dismissed it as the ravings of some redneck asshole. Yup. That’s how unkind I would have been.

Which doesn’t say good things about me.


But because it was you I had to really think about how to respond. How can someone that I like, respect even, someone who I know would never wish harm to another – how can this person want to stand by and let innocent people, mothers and their children – starve in refugee camps or die at the hands of human smugglers?

Make no mistake, these people do die terrible deaths. Why? They are running from the same people who murdered the innocent civilians in Paris. They are bombed. They are terrorized. Some are rounded up and shot quickly. Those are the lucky ones.

Even in the areas supposedly under control of the “democratic governments” we in the west helped establish there is no safety.

Here’s a true story I heard from a former Toronto cop who trained police for the Iraqi forces.

Being an Iraqi police officer is often a short career. It’s a dangerous thing to do. But it pays a salary. Enough to keep your family from starving.

There are some alternative occupations. Suicide bomber is one. The guys who visited the man that the cop told me about promised to take care of his family for life. For life. All he had to do was to strap on a bomb and blow himself up. He said no – he’d rather take his chances as an Iraqi cop. And went off to the training camp.

Apparently, you aren’t allowed to say no when they ask you to be a suicide bomber. While he was in training to be a cop his wife and children were horribly murdered.

This is in the areas where there is some semblance of control. In the areas controlled by ISIS it gets worse. So they flee.

I don’t know who you think these people are, because outside of the fact that they speak a different language, many of them are pretty much like you and me. Or they were before the war. They ran small businesses. They worked in offices. They taught children. But there’s not a lot of teachers jobs in war zones. Go figure.

And the camps? Well I guess some of them make it to refugee camps. Why don’t they stay there? Some do. They “live” in these camps – the lucky ones – for years. In many of the camps there isn’t enough food or shelter. In some they have resources for about 500 calories a day for each person. You starve slowly on that amount of food. You watch your kids starve slowly as well. (By the way, as Canadians we throw out tons of food every day. But I digress.)

When they stay in these camps for year and year, with no hope do you wonder why some get recruited by the nice men who offer a career as soldiers or suicide bombers. When you abandon people to lives of no hope in squalid refugee camps, what are they supposed to do?

Surprisingly, the number that do become terrorists is very, very small. For these heroic people, many choose another option. Rather than starve slowly, live in a war zone or spend their remaining days hungry and lost in these camps, they run. Well, they walk mostly, taking what pitiful few possessions they can carry. Or they get on those boats.

Ah yes, the boats. I’m sure you’ve heard of the rickety boats that they go to sea in, hoping to make it to Europe. I know that you’ve read that many of those boats don’t make it. They are so overloaded, many capsize and the people drown. The smugglers don’t care. What’s a few more dead refugees, right?

Now, I’m not sure if you know what it’s like to die by drowning. The good news is – it doesn’t take that long. You die choking on water coming into your lungs but you only have about five to fifteen minutes to struggle hopelessly in the water. The bad news is that those five to fifteen minutes are horrific. It’s quite a terrible death. That’s why they use waterboarding as a torture. Even hardened warriors can’t endure even a few minutes of what its like to drown.

Of course you don’t always drown alone. Some drown trying to save their babies and young children, knowing they will fail. Sheer terror, painful death and knowing that your kids are dying and you can do nothing. Take a second and picture this. Just before you sign that petition.

You’ve got kids. Could you imagine dying in horrible pain while you know that you children are also dying in horribly and you can do nothing? If that’s not the definition of hell, I don’t know what is.

Again there are the lucky ones. Those ones survive and only get robbed once or twice. Some don’t lose all their life savings and have enough to try to get someone to smuggle them into another country. Some are like the folks that paid the smugglers to take them across Europe in a truck. They suffocated in the back of that truck, dying slowly over hours of suffering, clutching their kids and knowing that there was nothing they could do. Nothing.

Some of these folks have it relatively easy. Their boats don’t capsize. They don’t get in a truck. They just walk for hundreds of kilometers. Sure, some are robbed. Many are starving. As it gets to be winter in Europe – yes – they get winter there too – they shiver as they starve and freeze. Again, these are the really fortunate ones.

So why on earth would they do this? Why would they risk horrible, unspeakable torturous deaths, many helplessly dying with their babies in their arms?

Why? They are running from the same terrorists that we fear. They are running from the same group of people who killed a hundred or more people in Paris.

Every one of the people in Paris who died is a tragedy. That almost 150 died is earth shaking. You are mad because that happened? Me too. I’m furious. I am struggling to contain the rage inside me. I want someone to pay.

My problem? And where we differ? I don’t want some poor barstard whose only crime is that he or she picked the wrong place to be born to pay. I don’t want the mother who saw her husband shot to pay. I don’t want that Iraqi cop whose family were tortured and killed to pay. They’ve suffered enough.

And they continue to pay. The number of Parisians dead is the equivalent of one capsized boat. It doesn’t make the Parisians lives any less valuable. But the lives of the people who died in that truck are also valuable. By the time they found them they were mostly liquid rotting flesh.

These are the stories that make the news. Do we even know what kind of suffering happened to the people in all these unmarked graves they keep finding?

But it’s not the numbers that count. Every death is a tragedy. The people in Paris. The folks in that truck. The people who drown. The folks in those mass graves. The kids in that café in Paris. They are all innocent. And all of them are paying with their lives.

The trouble is – I can’t do a damn thing about the people in Paris. Except get mad. I can rage about it. I can cry. But I can’t change a damn thing.

I can help one person get out of those camps. We as a country can help thousands.

We’ve done it before. In the 1970’s – remember the recession and economic problems then? We took in 50,000 refugees or more – lots of them the “boat people”. We had a housing crisis at the time too. But we did it. Some people at that time said “we should take care of our own” first. Some said their North Vietnamese spies hidden in the refugees. We still took them in.

We did it in the 1950s too. Before our time. We took in an enormous number of Hungarian refugees. Again – it was a crappy time for Canada economically, but we still did the right thing. I’m sure someone talked about the commie spies that were hiding in the refugees. It was the cold war.

But we did the right thing not when it was easy – but when it was difficult. We did it when it was tough. Today, we’re all proud of what we did as a country. And those people we took in have gone on to make this a better country. Many have worked hard at menial jobs and raised families. Some of their kids are now in our parliament.

We have not always been so noble. This “ban immigration” sentiment has surfaced before. We said “none is too many”. We let them sit in the boats. We let them be taken back to Germany and the camps. That’s right. Canada sent Jews back to die in camps in Germany. It’s a historical fact.

When I think back on that, I’m not so proud.

I’m not prepared to let my country’s legacy be “none is too many.” I’m not prepared to sit idly by and let those people suffer.

So the short answer is no. I won’t be signing your petition. I couldn’t live with myself if I did.

And it would be tempting to just let this go by, but I can’t do that either.

All I can think about is that if some brave people before the second world war had stood up and said, no – we must let those people in – boatloads of Jews would have avoided the camps, torture and death.

I can’t change that. But I can oppose your idea – not you, but your idea. If I stand up and say no to this petition. If I oppose it with every fibre of my being maybe, just maybe – I might help one modern boat from being turned back.

And before you say it. Yes. Some terrorists might get in.

We’ll deal with that. These guys aren’t stupid. They’ll get in to our country anyway. Have you heard of the internet? They don’t have to come here to recruit white middle-class kids. Borders don’t matter anymore.
Thank god someone informs on the terrorists. How do you think our cops find and thwart the terrorists that are operating here now? They get information from the grateful people who don’t want to bring that hate, war and terrorism to this country. Loyal, grateful friends. They are our best defense.

So I can’t sign your petition. I have to oppose it with every fibre of my being. I have to do it for all these reasons and one more.

Here’s my last point. If I do sign and turn my back on these innocent people, knowingly let them suffer, then what have we become? Haven’t the terrorists already won? Haven’t we become just like they want us to be?

If I was going to make a recruiting poster for terrorism, the slogan would be – “they don’t give a damn about you. Why should you care about them?”

I won’t play their game. I won’t be consumed by fear and anger. I’ll be saddened because I’m human, but I won’t hate and I won’t fear. If we do, the terrorists win.

So, no thanks to your petition. I’d like to say I wish you success, but I don’t. All I will say is that if you change your mind, this door never shuts. I won’t hate you either. You will have to live with what you have and haven’t done.

I won’t give up to terror. I won’t give up trying to help the innocent victims of war. And through all of this – I won’t give up on you either.