Canada as a Destination for the Refugees

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CHAPTER III CANADA’S SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION ON REFUGEES

This chapter will manage to explain three aspects in regards to the Canadian social construction on refugees. The first aspect is, Canada as a destination country for the refugees, second Canada’s response on the Syrian refugee crisis, and third the construction of Canadian identity as a refugee-friendly country.

A. Canada as a Destination for the Refugees

Syrian refugees are not the first one to come to Canada. In accepting refugees, Canada has been known as a country with some remarkable records on it. Speaking upon Canada’s historical line, there has been groups of refugee coming to Canada from various countries all around the world. Having that said, this sub- chapter would manage to explain the underlying motivation of the refugees for choosing Canada as their destination country. Based on that result, the author would also attempt to draw a point to conclude the Canadian characteristic towards refugees. Even though the acceptance of refugees in Canada had begun b efore 1800’s the time when there was an escape of thousands black slaves from the United States to the upper part of Canada Government of Canada, 2015, this part would only explain several related events that had happened within the Canadian history. The first acceptance of refugees by Canada was started in 1970s when Canada became the host for Latin American refugees. Some Latin Americas countries such as Chile, El Salvador, Argentina, Guatemala, and Peru were said to be the source of the incoming refugees to Canada at that time. A journal entitled 27 “Latin American Migration to Canada: New linkage in the hemispheric migration and refugee flow system” by Alan B. Simmons gives a quite detailed explanation on how this process of particular migration can possibly happen Simmons A. B., 1993. This article explains that the wave of Latin American refugees came in several waves. The two largest waves were marked by the arrival of Chilean refugees in 1970s and Salvadorans in the 1980s to Canada. Others are regarded as relatively small ones. Quantitatively speaking, a statistical data shows that the highest number of Chilean refugees to Canada happened around 1974 to 1980 with 14.846 refugees. Meanwhile, the Salvadorans’ biggest wave to Canada happened around 1986 to 1990 with 16.414 refugees Simmons A. B., 1993. These waves of refugees that came from Chile and El Salvador to Canada happened because of the eruption of Central American revolution in the late 1970s. In regards to that, Simmons 1993 also adds that what motivated thousands of Latin Americans especially for Chileans and Salvadorans fleeing from their own countries were not the commonly known motivation such as economic, but instead they were “… initiated and sustained largely by flight from dictatorship, state terror, civil war, and violence. Simmons A. B., 1993 .” Nevertheless, the reason why Canada became the destination country for Central American refugees is not yet explained. Maria Cristina Garcia in “Canada: A Northern Refuge for Central Americans“, explains a logical flow on how Canada could appear as a “safe haven” for the Central American refugees Garcia, 2006. Concluding the points delivered within that article, there are at least two underlying reasons that can lead to the answer according to Garcia. First of all, at the time when the United States and Mexico enacted a more restricted migration 28 policy, Canada was doing the other way around by providing humanitarian emergency aid and assistances as well as setting out itself from taking any military- related measure Garcia, 2006. Second of all, Canada was also affected by the implementation of Immigration Reform and Control Act IRCA passed by the U.S. Congress in 1986. Such immigration reform that happened in the U.S. allowed the country to develop some measures to restrict the undocumented migrant issues. As an outcome, Canada had to bear the significant increase of the number of petition for Asylum to which eventually led them to accept about 10.000 Central American refugees in only one year from 1986 to 1987 Garcia, 2006. Besides other waves of refugees that happened to come to Canada and are listed in its history of refugee acceptance, the author would also talk about the case of Vietnamese Refugees that came to Canada in around 1975. The cause of this particular refugee crisis was known to be escaping from the war that was happening in Vietnam, popularly known as the ‘Vietnam War.” Other sources also explains that the arrival of Vietnamese to Canada was divided into two different waves. In the first wave that happened in 1975, most of the number of Vietnamese refugees were dominated by the skilled refugees andor the middle class Vietnamese who had relatives staying in Canada and acted as their sponsors at that moment. Meanwhile, the second wave that happened between 1979 and 1981 consisted of Vietnamese refugees with more varied social backgrounds Joy, 2013. Following the rise of that crisis, Canada was recognized to be the host for about more than 60.000 Vietnamese refugees by the end of 1980, despite the fact that Joe Clark only announced that Canada would only admit 50.000 Vietnamese refugees a year before that Government of Canada, 2015. 29 With that being said, it is believed that, to some extents, the two cases explained above have shown a point that there is a kind of pattern used by Canada to respond towards the issues of refugee which is by showing and practicing their ‘openness’ to the incoming refugees. That pattern is also believed by the author to be accountable for the creation of such a remarkable migration policy in the middle of the humanitarian crisis. Besides, the stable economic and political condition in Canada which is relatively way more stable are also believed to be the other factors that make Canada becomes one of the prominent destinations for the refugees.

B. Canada’s Response towards the Syrian Refugee Crisis