SEEKING REFUGE IN CANADA - WHY?

Irshad Manji

Feeling deeply for all refugees. Canada welcomed my family in 1972, when Uganda expelled us because we weren't black enough for its racist dictator, Idi Amin. Today? I wonder whose shores we'd wash up on, and whether we'd have a chance there. This is why I stand for dignity everywhere.

Photo: Me (scared of water) in Lake Victoria, Uganda, 1971.

• Phyllis Carter -  Irshad, When people come to Canada for help, we should welcome them. But when a nation receives refugees, some of those who enter come to cause trouble, demanding that Canada adapt to THEIR ways, instead of integrating as Canadians. When Jewish refugees fled Poland, Russia, Ukraine in the early 1900's - they kissed the ground and were grateful. They worked hard in sweat shops. They built synagogues and schools and clinics and a great hospital and welcomed everyone. They never asked Canadians to become Jews or to make laws to fit their beliefs. While very Orthodox cults continue wearing the princely Polish garments and have kept to themselves, they have not imposed their customs on anyone else