(The following editorial is from the October 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial

Racist, far-right policies are being imposed on the Canadian refugee system by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, with the tacit approval of the Harper government.

     In a recent well-publicized case, Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) member William Davis accepted the claim by white South African Brandon Huntley, who would "stand out like a sore thumb" because of his colour in South Africa, where there is supposedly an "inability or unwillingness by the government and security forces to protect white South Africans from persecution by African South Africans."

     Abraham Sokhaya Nkomo, South Africa's high commissioner to Canada, rightly called this argument "outrageous" and has demanded that the Harper government appeal the ruling to the Federal Court of Canada. The only explanation in response has been the line that the IRB is an independent tribunal that works at arm's length from the government.

     The real story is that Jason Kenney has repeatedly attacked the validity of various refugee claims, while keeping silent on the Huntley case. His actions are undermining the Board, according to critics such as former IRB chair Peter Showler.

     Kenney has publicly called U.S. war resisters "bogus," and accuses asylum seekers from Mexico of abusing the system. Absurdly, he says that the Roma population face no state persecution in the Czech Republic, despite frequent racist and fascist attacks on their communities, and the fact that the IRB has approved most claims by Roma applicants in recent years.

     The pattern is clear. Minister Kenney is engaged in a deliberate effort to stack the deck against refugee claimants from countries and peoples which do not meet Tory political standards. And there is a long history of support for apartheid among key sectors of the current Conservative government, such as accusations that Nelson Mandela was a "terrorist".

     Jason Kenney, like the rest of the Harper gang in Ottawa, has to go, the sooner the better.