Why were Canadians citizens concerned with the enemy aliens?

Answer 1

The refugee issue was and still is a concern to Canadians. Canada has a deep history of accepting refugees and many Canadians can trace their history to ancestors that fled to Canada for many reasons. Canada lets in more refugees per capita than almost any other country in the world and we are proud of that.

One problem is in the difference between "immigrants" and Refugees.

Immigrants want to come to Canada, want to leave their homeland, and have met a rather strict set of qualifications. They can speak English ( or French) fluently, have post secondary education, money, are healthy and no criminal record. They bring skill sets needed by Canada. They are very much wanting to be Canadian out of choice and almost always fit well into the Canadian mosaic.

Refugees on the other hand have met almost no requirements. Some are extremely well educated, very wealthy, healthy and prosperous but most are not. Many are criminals or lack proper identification, have poor education, a poor understanding of how to fit in, and all of them have been forced from their homeland. By definition they only want to be here because they cannot be there.

Many of the problems and costs attributed to Immigrants in Canada can be traced to Refugees. This is a concern to those Canadians from Immigrant families who see themselves as being unfairly associated with high costs and burdens to our social and legal systems.

Canadians also have concerns for the Refugee's. We cannot allocate the resources required to integrate all the refugees we let in. Integrating refugees can be extremely expensive requiring years of basic education and language education, and financial support. They are also much more likely to have serious health problems some immediate and short term which can include trauma from war zones and some serious long term health issues. We are not giving them the education, and care they need, many are not much better off in Canada and too many of them end up in criminal activities, sometimes because they see no other choice. All too often they end up receiving financial help, or welfare, for years, sometimes generations. It isn't fair and to most Canadians it isn't acceptable, we have a moral duty to do better.

We do not want to restrict Immigration but each immigrant and refugee is costing Canada between $5,000 and $10,000 a year or more than $20 Billion more in services than are collected in taxes and even for wealthy Canada that is not sustainable.

Then there are the raw numbers and what the consequences are for Canada. More than 10% of Canada's population is from immigrants and refugees in the last 15 years alone. A country of only 30 million has been letting in a quarter million a year for a very long time. Soon more than half of all Canadians will be first or second generation.

The concerns are clear, the solutions not so clear.

Answer 2

They raided effect Canadian confederation