Deportation just shifts the problem somewhere else
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on March 20, 2018.
Good riddance. It’s the sentiment of many Canadians have when it comes to announcements like the one last week that Tooba Yahya is stripped of her permanent residency by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Yahya, alongside husband Mohammad Shafia and son, Hamed, were found guilty in 2012 of first-degree murder over the deaths of their three daughters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Shafia’s first wife. The four victims were found in June 2009 in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ont. Their deaths have been characterized as “honour killings.” The family was originally from Afghanistan, and had moved to different countries before settling in Canada. They were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Once Yahya is released from prison, she will be deported. And on the surface, it seems like something Canadians should be relieved about. Good riddance. It’s the go-to feeling when an immigrant who commits a crime in Canada is deported —especially the most heinous, violent crimes. Especially the crimes — such as sexual assault, rape, and abuse committed against women, children and the vulnerable. But there’s a catch. If you send a drug addict back to their own country, they’re still a drug addict. And they will continue with drug-seeking behaviour there, which can — and often does — escalate into violence. Same with people who participate in drug trafficking. If you send a violent offender back to their own country, they’re still a violent person. This won’t magically change once they cross a border. It’s likely they will continue to commit violent acts. If you send a man who beats his wife back to his home country, he will still beat and abuse women. Just in the other country. If you send a rapist back to his home country, he will still be a rapist. And in that country, he will rape more women. If you send a pedophile back to their home country, they will abuse children there. If you send people who murder their own daughters back to their own country, they will still be murderers. They can, and possibly will, participate in further honour killings. And it’s unlikely they will pay the price for it. As Human rights organizations have long pointed out honour killings go unpunished. Crimes like rape and domestic abuse barely register as crimes. Canada is not perfect. Our own iterations of the #metoo movement, the difficulties in securing sexual assault convictions and that we even still need women’s shelters, are all a testament to how we have a long way to go. But we’re still a hell of a lot better than many countries when it comes to protecting women. If you care about the well-being of women, you have to care about all women. Not just Canadian women, but women around the world. The only thing deportation does is shift the target towards even more vulnerable people. And if these criminals are the monsters we say the are, Canada has the moral obligation to not just deport them, then brush our hands of what inevitably happens next. (Peggy Revell is a News reporter. To comment on this and other editorials, go to https://www.medicinehatnews.com/opinions.) 20-19
Thats so sweet Peggy. I think you miss the point though, just as the human rights people do too. Look at it like this Peggy, you have put up a fence to stop the Deer, but your neighbor hasn’t the money to buy a Fence so now the Deers as decimating their garden while yours is safe. Are you going to buy them a Fence, what about the other families without Fences. Are you going to buy them all fences? Just shoot the damn Deer, got rid of the problem then.
Just because the government is naive enough to accept immigrants and not check they are integrating into Canadian society, should all Canadians suffer and pay tax to rehabilitate people who have no intention to abide by western laws?
It’s all food for thought Peggy. If you want to see Canada’s future lift your eyes and look to Europe, as humans we have the amazing capacity to learn by our mistakes. Let us hope Canada doesn’t have to suffer like our friends there.