Juno News - November 23, 2018Asia Bibi is a REAL refugee that needs Canada's help.
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Summary
What exactly is a refugee? The term gets thrown around so much, and if you were to get your information strictly from the mainstream media, you could be forgiven for believing a refugee is any migrant who arrives in a Western country hoping to stay. The media in Canada, following cues from Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party, erroneously conflate the concept of an asylum seeker with a bona fide refugee. It happens every day on the CBC and in pages of newspapers like the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. But not all asylum seekers are refugees. Many migrants explicitly break the rules laid out for becoming a refugee, for instance by crossing through other safe countries before submitting their refugee application.
Transcript
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The term gets thrown around so much, and if you were to get your information strictly
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from the mainstream media, you could be forgiven for believing a refugee is any migrant who
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The media in Canada, following cues from Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party, erroneously
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conflate the concept of an asylum seeker with a bona fide refugee.
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It happens every day on the CBC and in pages of newspapers like the Toronto Star on the
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The images are chilling, thousands of refugees slipping across the border this winter in
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darkness and bitter cold, fleeing the U.S. where they fear they're not safe, hoping they'll
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be welcomed in Canada if they can make it alive.
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Many migrants explicitly break the rules laid out for becoming a refugee, for instance by
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crossing through other safe countries before submitting their refugee application.
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Take the recent migrant caravan that marched through Mexico hoping to find asylum in the
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Some of the migrants were waving the flags of the countries of origin like Guatemala and
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Honduras while also claiming to be refugees from those countries.
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Now tell me, if you were persecuted by your government or if your government failed to keep
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you safe, would you really wave that flag proudly and defiantly while marching through another
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country heading to a third where you hope to become a refugee?
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Or look at Canadian Liberal Cabinet Minister Mariam Monsef.
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It's time for integrity, time for results, it's our time.
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Her family was granted asylum and they became refugees in Canada, claiming to have been
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We later learned that Monsef was born and raised in Iran, not Afghanistan.
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And we learned that she frequently returned back to the region, back to Iran and Afghanistan,
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after being granted refugee status in Canada and being given Canadian citizenship.
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When I asked her office how she was able to travel to Iran, given that Canada and Iran don't
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have a diplomatic relationship, well they told me that she used an Afghan passport to travel.
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Now again, if you were persecuted, chased out of a country, and then by the grace of God
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saved and granted refugee status in the West, would you really use the passport of the country
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All these stories don't lend much credibility to the claim that the people were ever really
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Sadly, all this does is undermine the plight of real refugees around the world.
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Now, I want to talk to you about one such real refugee.
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Bibi is a poor Pakistani farm worker who also happens to be a Catholic.
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She was born and raised in a small rural village near Lahore, Pakistan, where Christians are
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targeted, routinely persecuted, and they're relegated to low-status and low-wage jobs.
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Bibi and her family, she has five children, well they're often pressured to convert to Islam
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One day, Bibi was sent to fetch water from a nearby well.
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Now while she was walking over to the well, she was thirsty, so she wanted to drink water.
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She found a cup on the ground and she used it to have a sip of water.
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Another villager saw her do this and insisted that it was forbidden for Christians to drink
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The villagers claimed that the cup belonged to Muslims.
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Bibi was confronted by an angry crowd who again demanded that she convert to Islam.
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She defended her belief in Christianity, her belief in Jesus Christ as the savior of mankind.
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Now, a bigger mob later showed up at Bibi's house and began to physically attack her and
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They accused her of making derogatory statements about Islam and its prophet.
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They charged her under Pakistan's perverse blasphemy laws that punish anyone who criticizes
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Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and she was sentenced to death by hanging.
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The ruling was upheld again by a Lahore High Court and she remained on death row.
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Following international pressure from human rights organizations and the Pope himself, the
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case was sent to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
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Finally, Bibi caught a break and the highest court ruled that she was innocent, citing insufficient
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The acquittal prompted mass protests from hardline Islamists demanding that she be killed.
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Thousands of angry men took to the streets in mass demonstrations in Pakistan.
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The court ruled that she cannot leave the country, that she must remain there because her case remains
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The British government, meanwhile, confirmed that they would not help Bibi.
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They said it was out of fear for the safety of their British diplomats in Pakistan.
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There are also other statements that were made over concerns about internal riots in the UK from
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the large Pakistan community, many of whom have hardline Islamist views.
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Our officials are reportedly in discussion with Pakistani officials about trying to bring Bibi
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A person with a well-founded fear of persecution based solely on her religious beliefs.
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If she was forced to remain in Pakistan, there is no doubt that she'll be killed.
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Her case highlights the very reason why countries like Canada have an asylum program.
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It's designed to protect vulnerable individuals from the cruel and unjust treatment while upholding
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our own core values like freedom of speech, religious freedom, and the rule of law.
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And if the UK insists on cowering to a mob of Pakistani Islamists, then Canada needs to
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be there to offer Bibi and her family immediate asylum.
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For the True North Initiative, I'm Candace Malcolm.