The Anglican PWRDF (Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund) never misses an opportunity to whine about any government that is further to the right than Fidel’s Cuba. Thus Canada – and in particular Stephen Harper – are selected for opprobrium for being insufficiently munificent in welcoming refugees – bogus or otherwise.

Laughably, Syria is cited as a model of generosity to which Canada might aspire; the PWRDF neglects to mention that Syria’s human rights record is among the worst in the world; systematic torture, corruption and oppression are rampant – that must be why so many refugees are lining up to get in.

The arguments posed by Minister Jason Kenney are that our asylum system is too easily abused and that there are many “bogus” refugee claims.  The Minister’s declarations and actions are misleading. He is trying to convince Canadians that Canada is too generous.

Inaccuracies like, “We accept more refugees per capita than any other country in the world,” as reported in a National Post editorial on August 11, are confusing and encourage an erroneous message from the government. According to Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) Executive Director Janet Dench, “Jordan has an acceptance ratio of 1:9, Syria 1:11, Lebanon 1:12.  Canada? 1:459.” These stats are taken from the World Refugee Survey 2008.

I would like to know how enthusiastic the PWRDF would be to accept Brandon Huntley’s refugee claim in the face of South Africa’s protests. Not very, I suspect.