That Prince George's citizens would sign a petition against some Syrian refugees coming to the north is a deeply troubling and sad indictment of our city.
In the wake of the Paris attacks, there are rumours linking the Islamic State to the refugees.
These rumours are fear mongering; the mastermind was a Belgian citizen and other attackers were French. These rumours highlight one aspect of a complex issue to stoke fear. Fear that Prince George's citizens seem sadly too willing to accept and reflect back into conversations about bringing refugees to Canada.
The issue is complex.
Consider that the refugees are fleeing violence. They are victims. Victims who walked for months to try to find a home. Most refugees were those already against the Assad regime, often middle class professionals, engineers and teachers who found their homes destroyed and fled for their lives.
To argue that Muslim refugees are terrorist amounts to racism - saying that all people of a given faith or ethnicity are the same, and should be feared.
The Vietnamese refugees did not bring communism; the Irish refugees did not bring IRA-style bombings. Of the 749,000 refugees admitted into the U.S. since 9/11, two were arrested for terrorist acts that they committed while they were in Iraq.
We can do better, Prince George.
There are economic benefits to admitting refugees. According to the International Migration Institute at the University of Oxford, accepting refugees has a neutral or a positive effect on local jobs.
Once on their feet, refugees contribute to the local and national economy as much as native-born Canadians, starting businesses and bringing their skilled labour to our industries.
There is no rational basis for this fear.
Bringing a handful of refugees would not harm the economy or threaten anyone's lives or property.
It is not so difficult to accept a few families and to show the generosity that I have often witnessed in the north.
Accepting refugees not only makes rational sense, but it also fulfills our sense of self as a community that pulls together.
I'm going to Paris next week for the UN climate talks.
I will be in the room when heads of state give their speeches and, hopefully, when delegates craft a new agreement to help spur the economic and environmental benefits of climate action already evident elsewhere in the world.
To cave to fear would be to allow the terrorists to win.
Jen Allan
Vancouver
