Tamil refugees on the rebound

There is a country in Asiawilling to take Sri Lankan Tamil refugees by the thousand — with the United Nations’ seal of approval.

 

And they’re already doing it. In the first six months of 2010, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says the generous country accepted 1,857 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, who had been staying temporarily in India.

 

UN refugee spokesman Michael Zwack says these Tamils are now ‘rebuilding their lives.’ The UN quoted one Tamil refugee, a 39-year-old woman, who said she was pleased with her new home for a pretty good reason: ‘Peace.’

 

So where is this wonderful place that Sri Lankan refugees are going to by the thousand?

 

Sri Lanka.

 

That’s right. Thousands of Tamil refugees are returning to Sri Lanka — because it’s safe. Within Sri Lanka itself, internal refugee camps for displaced Tamils are winding down, as Tamils go back home.

 

For example, the Menik Farm refugee camp in Sri Lanka once had 228,000 Tamils in it. It’s down to less than 35,000 now, with 3,000 people going home every week.

 

It’s an amazing success story, and it’s because the 30-year civil war with the Tamil Tigers terrorist group is over. The terrorists lost. The war ended last spring. Everyone can go home.

 

Including the 492 gatecrashers who showed up on Vancouver Island last month.

 

This isn’t Sri Lankan government propaganda. It’s Tamil refugees telling the story, not with words but with deeds. They’re leaving some of the friendliest places on earth to go home.

 

For example, the 1,857 refugees mentioned above had been staying in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It’s a huge state, with more than 66 million people, overwhelmingly Tamil, as its name implies. Even from that Tamil paradise, Tamil refugees are going home to Sri Lanka.

 

We already knew 71% of Tamil refugees in Canada go home to Sri Lanka for holidays, too, according to a survey done by Canadian immigration officials, and reported by QMI Agency.

 

Question: If thousands of Tamil refugees from around the world are going home to Sri Lanka, and 71% of Canadian Tamil refugees go back there for holidays, why are we still going through the motions with the 492 Tamils on Vancouver Island, as if they are legitimate? And why are more Tamil ships steaming our way?

 

That’s easy. Criminal smugglers made an estimated $20 million profit from the voyage. Why wouldn’t they keep doing it?

 

Canadian immigration lawyers love it. It’s lucrative work — they’re paid by legal aid. Which is another way of saying ‘paid by your taxes.’

 

Politicians love it. With more than 200,000 Tamils living inToronto, there are plenty of votes to be had by pandering.

 

And liberal, white journalists love it, because it’s a chance to prove how sensitive they are, to polish their politically correct credentials.

 

That just leaves the rest of us — chumps paying the bills, and watching helplessly while 492 queue-jumpers butt in to the front of the line. Not just queue-jumpers, but queue-jumpers fleeing a ‘peaceful’ place.

 

So are we going to change our laws to keep out these shysters, like Australiahas done? Or is being the world’s sucker the new Canadian identity?

 

Toronto Sun