Saturday, August 15, 2009

Why migrate to Canada?

OK this is not really about real estate. So if that’s the only reason you are reading this, I suggest you to stop now, ’cuz I am going to let out my rant. Suaad Hagi Mohamud, the woman you have probably heard about a lot by now because she was detained in Kenya, is back in Toronto. I am very happy. It is something to celebrate. But this shouldn’t have been in news at all. Here’s how it SHOULD HAVE unfolded. This lady should have been allowed to board the airplane when she showed up at the airport with her Canadian Passport. No one should have to prove their ID beyond the travel document or may be, as she did, by showing one’s Ontario driver’s licence and perhaps a Canadian citizenship certificate. She actually went further and even produced her OHIP health card, Social Insurance Card, Shoppers Drug Mart “Optimum” card and even a dry cleaner’s receipt. The last two aren’t exactly ID’s but they do show that the person knows their way around the city and had clearly gone to Kenya from Canada.

Two reasons I am writing about it. One, I am from Toronto just as she is. And secondly, this has happened to me too, while I was travelling in India. It was nowhere close to Suaad’s ordeal because I was able to board the flight I was supposed to. But that happened because the Airline staff stood by me and the flight superintendent argued on my behalf with the officials at the airport. All the guy at the India’s New Delhi airport wanted was money (read as bribe) to grease his palms. He gave the same reason as was given to Suaad Hagi Mohamud; i.e. I didn’t look like my picture.

When one travels to countries where the law and order situation is questionable or worse, we hope that the Canadian government would stand by us. I mean, isn’t that the real reason we all migrated to Canada. Among other things, Canada prides herself to provide its citizens with equal rights and opportunities. Greater Toronto Area alone has a net migration number of close to 70,000. That speaks for something. I left India because of religious persecution but I still like to go back when I can.

OK I have to say this: I, as a Canadian citizen, want to be able to travel other parts of the world without having to fear about becoming a target of some corrupt system BECAUSE I AM A CANADIAN CITIZEN AND EXPECT THE GOVERNMENT TO STAND BEHIND ME, minus the racial profiling.

Mildly put, here’s why I don’t like what happened to Suaad Hagi Mohamud: If she wasn’t helped because of what she looks like, then that makes the Canadian system CORRUPT. So I am back into a systematic trend that I tried to get out of by migrating to Canada. So why come here?

The poor lady had to endure so much, including DNA testing, hiring lawyers etc. If she wasn’t able to do all that then she would be rotting right now in a Kenyan jail and we wouldn’t have even heard about it. The Canadian system failed this woman and Mr. Stephen Harper is “looking into it”. Yah right !!!