Canada's decision to impose visas on all
would-be visitors from Mexico has been greeted with outrage
Jeffrey Simpson
go to original in globe and Mail
For a country that likes to brag about a supposedly
unsullied international reputation and feasts upon a moral superiority –
The World Needs More Canada – it must come as a shock to hear every
political party and editorial commentator in a friendly country
denouncing Canada.
Welcome to Mexico, where the decision to impose
visas on all would-be travellers to Canada has been greeted with outrage
across the political spectrum. Nobody in Mexico has a kind word to say
about the Canadian decision, since it is rightly considered a slap in
the face for a proud nation.
Mexico, NAFTA partner and one of North America's
“three amigos,” (to use former prime minister Jean Chrétien's
expression), was the last Latin American country whose citizens did not
require a visa to visit Canada.
Now, because of Canada's refugee laws and
procedures, visas are being demanded of Mexicans and Czechs (to whom we
add insult to injury by making visa-seekers apply not in Prague, the
Czech capital, but in Vienna, the capital of Austria).
Defenders of the Canadian system shrug. For the
refugee lawyers, practitioners and academics, it's all about would-be
refugee claimants, bogus or otherwise, from Mexico or anywhere on the
planet, who make it to Canada, including from democratic countries such
as most of those in Latin America.
They don't apparently care about the expense of the
refugee system, the big costs of administering a visa system, the hurt
done Canada's bilateral relations, the negative effect on tourism and
business, the racketeering that goes on to get people into our creaky
system. Foreign policy, economic considerations and reputational damage
count for naught.
Just to make things really hard for Mexicans,
Canadian consulates in Mexico won't issue visas. Only the embassy in
Mexico City can, and it is overwhelmed. About 250,000 Mexicans come to
Canada each year. Some of them will now give up. That's great news for
the beleaguered Canadian tourism industry.
Mexico had become in recent years the No. 1 country
for refugee claimants. The numbers went from 3,400 in 2005 to 9,400 in
2008, and 5,500 in the first six months of 2009 – about 10 per cent were
deemed admissible. (The IRB approval rate for all other refugees was 56
per cent.)
Mexican claimants knew a scam, or a chance, when
they saw one, because unscrupulous agencies in Mexico urged them – and
often charged them – to try their luck with the Canadian system.
If they failed, well, they could always return to
Mexico, albeit somewhat out of pocket; or, like others in the system,
they could just drop out of sight and join the illegals who escape
Canada's leaky deportation system. The odds weren't exactly win-win, but
they weren't lose-lose either.
Mexico proposed ideas to the Harper government to
forestall visas. The Mexicans suggested immigration preclearance by
Canadian officials of flights from Mexico bound for Canada. They wanted
information about where the refugees were coming from in order to target
efforts to stop people, but were told apparently, and if so
inexplicably, that this information was “private.” They suggested
cracking down on firms peddling bogus information about becoming a
refugee in Canada.
To no avail. Canada waited until after the recent
congressional elections in Mexico, then lowered the boom.
The visas are in place, and the Harper government
has promised changes to the refugee-determination process, having to its
credit now filled the vacancies on the Immigration and Refugee Board. We
wait to see the changes.
In the meantime, Canada should do something, if not
totally to repair relations then at least to offer something useful and
tangible to Mexico.
Mexico is gripped by a terrible drug war; indeed,
many of the refugee claimants insist they are fleeing for their lives
from this war between the government and drug cartels.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has thrown the
army into the war. The drug cartels are brutal. They kill, kidnap or
threaten those who get in their way. They bribe officials – police,
municipal officers, senior government officials – for protection and
information. One of their favourite tricks – reminiscent of one of
Islamic terrorists' favourites – is to throw the severed heads of their
victims into a public place.
The drug trade extends north to Canada, where
Mexican kingpins and traders make common cause with opposite numbers
here. Mexican drugs wind up on Canadian streets; Mexican drug syndicates
have their allies in Canada.
The week after next, Prime Minister Stephen Harper
is due in Guadalajara for a meeting with Mr. Calderon and U.S. President
Barack Obama.
There, Mr. Harper could announce, having discussed
this privately beforehand with the Mexicans, significant Canadian help
to Mexico in that drug war: RCMP personnel, training of Mexican police,
equipment where needed, money for a fund the Americans have already
established to help Mexico fight this plague.
Such an approach might ease the sting of the visas,
help Mexico a bit, and do ourselves a favour too. It would also show a
little creativity in foreign policy.
d
Log and Driving Guide
