{"id":65130,"date":"2015-11-19T11:02:32","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T17:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=65130"},"modified":"2015-11-19T11:02:32","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T17:02:32","slug":"walls-call-to-suspend-refugee-plan-irresponsible-islamic-social-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/11\/19\/walls-call-to-suspend-refugee-plan-irresponsible-islamic-social-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Wall’s call to suspend refugee plan ‘irresponsible:’ Islamic social services"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Brad<\/a>
Brad Wall (Photo from Wall’s official Facebook page)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

REGINA \u2013 About 75 refugees, immigrants and Canadians stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the Saskatchewan legislature Tuesday in protest of comments made by Premier Brad Wall.<\/p>\n

Wall called on the federal government Monday to suspend a plan to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees by year\u2019s end. The premier said he’s worried that fast-tracking refugee claims could undermine the screening process.<\/p>\n

Fartun Mohamud held up a sign at the legislature that said \u201cBrad Wall does NOT speak for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mohamud says Wall\u2019s comments cast an unfair image on refugees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find that Premier Brad Wall, what he said, it was kind of perpetuating the cycle of hatred that\u2019s already in the media for immigrants and refugees, putting them in the light as terrorists or just not enough positive light,\u201d said Mohamud, who immigrated to Canada in 2006 from South Africa.<\/p>\n

Maria Aman was three when her family fled a war in Eritrea, in east Africa. She arrived in Regina 22 years ago as a refugee and says her family was welcomed with love and compassion.<\/p>\n

Aman says the comments made by the premier spark fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it could definitely paint some negative things about the people and just preconceived ideas of who they are before we actually meet them, before they have a chance,\u201d said Aman, who held up a sign that read \u201cHate can not drive out hate!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the biggest problem here. It\u2019s not about what he said, it\u2019s about the feelings coming into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wall said Canada should take in refugees, but security should be \u201cfirst and foremost\u201d the concern for the provincial and federal governments. He also said it doesn\u2019t make sense for the process to be driven by a deadline and a quota.<\/p>\n

Shahina Siddiqui, president of the Islamic Social Services Association, says the suggestion by Wall to suspend the plan is irresponsible and a knee-jerk reaction to the attack in Paris.<\/p>\n

Siddiqui notes that Wall didn\u2019t raise concerns before gunmen and suicide bombers killed at least 129 people in the French capital Friday night.<\/p>\n

She said many coming to Canada are children or elderly fleeing violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are coming here because they have no other choice and they\u2019re coming for sanctuary, so what kind of sanctuary are we going to provide if we are going to be constantly looking at them with suspicion? How are we hoping to have a healthy integration?,\u201d Siddiqui said in a phone interview from Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

Wall\u2019s comments also undermine the Canadian system, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to know what evidence he is basing it on and why suddenly we are questioning our refugee and immigration process and personnel when we never did before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REGINA \u2013 About 75 refugees, immigrants and Canadians stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the Saskatchewan legislature Tuesday in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":61579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-65130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-immigration","tag-original","mauthors-jennifer-graham","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}